Ganga, Yamuna lose 'living' status

The Ganga and the Yamuna go back will now go back to being just rivers, instead of living entities, as the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Uttarakhand High Court verdict according the status of "living human entities" to two of India's major rivers.

The order was passed by a bench comprising of CJI JS Khehar and Justice Dr DY Chandrachud after Uttarakhand appealed against the March 20 order. A division bench of the Uttarakhand HC, comprising of justices Rajiv Sharma and Alok Singh, ordered the constitution of a Ganga Management Board in three months for irrigation, rural and urban water supply, hydropower generation and navigation. It also appointed the Director of Namami Gange Programme, Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand and the Advocate General (AG) of the state as the "human face to protect, conserve and preserve Ganga and Yamuna and their tributaries." The Uttarakhand AG was assigned the duty of representing the rivers during legal proceedings.

Appealing against the order, the hill state said that in case of human casualties in a flood, could the affected people file a suit for damages against the chief secretary? And, would the state government be liable to bear the financial burden?

The court had erred and not considered the fact that Ganga is an inter-state river, the petition read. The court went beyond its jurisdiction while passing the verdict since no plea was made for declaring the rivers as a living entity, Uttarakhand added. The petitioner — Mohammed Salim — in his original petition merely sought the removal of encroachments from the river banks.

The Supreme Court also issued a notice to the person on whose plea the high court gave its order.