DR. AJAY SINGH RAWAT versus UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS

Citation: [1995] 2 S.C.R. 632 · Decided: 09-03-1995 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: A.M. AHMADI · Disposal: Disposed off

Judgment (excerpt)

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A 
DR. AJAY SINGH RA WAT 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS 
~ 
MARCH 9, 1995 
B 
(A.M. AHMADI C.J., B.L. HANSARIA AND S.C. SEN, JJ.) 
Environment Pollution-Nainital-Suffocation and pollution due to 
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water, air, noise et~Saving of-Direction issued. 
c 
The petitioner, a member of "Nainital Bachao Samiti", tiled a writ 
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petition seeking directions to prevent suffocating of Nainital due to polio-
, 
tion i.e. water, air, noise etc. 
~ 
f 
It was submitted that the Department of Tourism and Environment 
of the U.P. Government has organised 'Save Nainital Workshop' in Sep-
D tember, 1989. Papers were presented on different aspects· highlighting 
sudden rise in pollution and that the sources of pollution were mentioned 
in the booklet "One hundred and fifty years of Nainital". 
By an order dated 14.7.1994 of this Court, a Commissioner for local 
E 
inspection was required to be appointed by the District Judge, Nainital to 
give report on the sources of pollution. 
The Commissioner made certain recommendations which were con-
sidered by this Court. 
F 
. - Disposing of the writ petition, this court gave following directions • 
"'> 
1. Sewage water has to be prevented from entering the lake. 
2. Building materials are not to be allowed to be heaped on the drains 
to. Prevent siltation of the lake. 
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G 
3. To examine whether trotting of horses around the lake is required 
to be prevented. 
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4. Multy-storeyed group housing and commercial complexes have to 
be banned in town area. Buildi~g of small residential houses or flats could 
H be permitted. 
632 
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DR.A.S.RAWATv. U.0.1.[HANSARIA,J.) 
633 
5. The off~nce of illegal felling of trees is required to be made A 
cognizable. 
6. Vehicular traffic on the mall has to be reduced. Heavy Vehicles 
may not be permitted. 
7. The fragile nature of Ballia Ravine has to be taken care of. The B 
cracks in the revetments of Ballia Nala have to be repaired urgently. 
(636-H, 637-A-D) 
8. A monitoring committee may be constituted for this purpose and 
it shall hold its meeting, once a month initially and later once in two 
months. (637-E) 
C 
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition No. 694 of 
1993 
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.) 
D 
J.S. Attri, Pradeep Misra, Randhir Jain, Ashok K. Srivastava, C.V.S. 
Rao and R. Narasimhan for the appearing parties. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
HANSARIA, J. Nainital, a beautiful butterfly, is said to be turning E 
into an ugly caterpillar. According to the petitioner, this is due to: (1) water 
pollution; (2) air pollution; (3) noise pollution; and (4) "VIP pollution". 
This has naturally caused concern to all natural lovers and environmen-
talists, apart from the enlightened resident of Nainital. The concern has 
been felt to such an extent that a 'Save Nainital Workshop' was organised 
F 
by none else than the Department of Tourism and Environment of the U .P. 
Government in September, 1989. In this workshop many papers were 
presented on different aspects highlighting sudden rise in vehicle traffic, 
illegal construction, encroachment and squatting, clustering, noise pollu-
tion, vanishing greenery resulting in land slides on Cheena Peak, main-
tenance of drains and pollution in the lake which has virtually become a G 
dumping ground for rubble and public sewage. Despite organising of such 
a workshop, nothing much seems to have been done to preserve the pristine 
beauty of Nainital. Hence, by this petition Dr. Rawat, who is a member of 
social action group called 'Nainital Bachao Samiti', has approached this 
Court seeking its assistance to pass such orders and give such directions 
as would prevent further pollution of already suffocating Nainital. 
H 
634 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
(1995] 2 S.C.R. 
A 
2. The environmental degradation has taken place, inter alia, because 
of increase in pollution, over-grazing, lopping and hacking of oak forests, 
forests fires, land slides, quarrying etc. The pollution in the lake is because 
of both inorganic and organic causes. The nearby minerals, namely, man-
ganese, lead salts, copper cobalt and zinc make the lake life toxic. The 
discharge of waste water in the lake is another polluting factor. But the 
B most potent source of pollution is, as mentioned in the booklet "One 
Hundred an.cl Fifty Years of Nainital", whose co- author is none else than 
the petitioner (the other author· being one Deepak Singhal, who at the 
relevant time was District Magistrat

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