Supreme Court directs states to ground-truth and demarcate wetlands within four months

The Supreme Court has directed all states and Wetland Authorities to physically verify (ground-truth) and demarcate wetlands and other water bodies, and to file compliance affidavits explaining the mode and method adopted. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M. Pancholi said water bodies, as a source of drinking water, are precious and fall within the right to life, adding that courts cannot remain mere spectators while such water bodies stay unprotected. The Court initially set four weeks for the affidavits but, noting the scale of the exercise, granted four months to complete it — nine years after the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 were published. The Court was hearing a PIL by bird enthusiast Anand Arya, advocate M. K. Balakrishnan and NGO Vanashakti. The Hindu Deccan Herald (The Hindu, Deccanherald)

• The Supreme Court has directed all states and Wetland Authorities to physically verify (ground-truth) and demarcate wetlands and other water bodies, and to file compliance affidavits explaining the mode and method adopte
• A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M.
• Pancholi said water bodies, as a source of drinking water, are precious and fall within the right to life, adding that courts cannot remain mere spectators while such water bodies stay unprotected.