Supreme Court of India· 07 August 2026

Before permitting further industrial, commercial or residential development along a river corridor, what scientific determination does the Court require of the State?

IN RE: 2 MILLION LIVES AT RISK, CONTAMINATION IN JOJARI RIVER, RAJASTHAN

2026 INSC 812 · Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No(s). 8 of 2025 with C.A. No(s). 5517-5519/2022, 8748/2022, 9057-9058/2022, 9010-9011/2022
Coram: Sandeep Mehta; Vikram Nath

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Answer

The State must undertake a comprehensive scientific exercise to determine and demarcate the High Flood Line and the requisite ecological buffer zone for the river system, in consultation with the monitoring Committee and expert institutions, and no fresh development permissions may be granted within the identified river corridor until this exercise is complete.

Headnote

Constitution of India — Article 32 — Suo motu writ jurisdiction — Environmental monitoring order — Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 — s.33A — Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — ss.272, 326 — Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 — s.33A — Continued judicial monitoring of industrial pollution — Held: Where successive status reports of a court-appointed Committee and Special Investigation Team disclose continuing contamination of a river system by industrial effluents, the Court may continue to monitor compliance and direct State authorities to place scientific plans for treatment and safe disposal of accumulated effluents on record, without permitting resumption of industrial operations pending such treatment. (¶1, 6) Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — ss.272, 326 — Environmental prosecutions — Invocation of graver penal provisions — Held further: Authorities investigating environmental contamination must consider invocation of the graver penal provisions available under the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and not confine prosecution to regulatory closure or compensation measures alone, in both pending and future cases of industrial pollution. (¶33) Environmental governance — High Flood Line and river corridor protection — Institutional coordination — Held further: Effective rejuvenation of a river system requires scientific determination and demarcation of the High Flood Line and ecological buffer zones before fresh industrial, commercial or residential development is permitted within the river corridor, and requires an Integrated Coordination Group to secure inter-departmental coordination among the numerous authorities whose functions bear on river restoration. Directions issued accordingly. (¶20, 33)

In the Court's own words

Paragraph 20Having emphasized the necessity of an integrated institutional mechanism for effective implementation of the measures directed by this Court, we now proceed to identify certain critical issues which, in our considered opinion, require immediate and time-bound remedial intervention. Foremost amongst them is the protection and restoration of the Jojari-Bandi-Luni river ecosystem. The reports of the Committee, demonstrates that effective rejuvenation of the Jojari-Bandi-Luni river system cannot be achieved unless the river corridor is scientifically identified, mapped and protected. The absence of a scientifically determined High Flood Line and corresponding ecological buffer zones has facilitated indiscriminate industrial development, encroachments upon the riverbed and floodplains and consequent degradation of the river ecosystem. We are, therefore, of the considered view that the State must undertake a comprehensive scientific exercise for determination and demarcation of the High Flood Line and the requisite ecological buffer zone qua all the river systems in the State in consultation with the Committee and such expert institutions as may be considered appropriate. Until the completion of the aforesaid exercise, no fresh permissions facilitating industrial, commercial or residential development within the identified river corridors shall be granted by any Department, statutory authority or local body of the State of Rajasthan.

Acts & Sections

s.33A Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974ss.272, 326 Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984

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Also decided in this judgment

Under Article 32 of the Constitution, can the Supreme Court continue to monitor a State's compliance with earlier environmental directions through successive status reports in a suo motu writ petition?Under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, what regulatory powers can be exercised against industrial units discharging effluents in violation of consent conditions?When investigating environmental contamination caused by industrial effluents, are authorities confined to regulatory closure and compensation measures, or must graver penal provisions also be considered?

Plain-language answer prepared by the LexStreak Editorial Desk — verify against the judgment. Source: Supreme Court of India. Corrections