Supreme Court Bench Places Suo Motu Case On Jojari River Contamination Before CJI BR Gavai

A Supreme Court Bench recently placed the suo motu case regarding contamination of Rajasthan's Jojari River before CJI BR Gavai.The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed an order on October 9, noting that there were commonalities in the issues sought to be dealt in the suo motu case and other appeals pending before the Court. Accordingly, it was deemed fit that the cases be clubbed and heard together, for which purpose appropriate orders have been sought from the CJI.Tracing the history of the cases involving these issues, the bench observed that writ petitions were initially filed before the Rajasthan High Court. These were transferred to NGT, Delhi, which found that there were 3 rivers involved in the "environmental disaster" - River Luni, River Bandi and River Jojari. In 2022, the NGT passed an order issuing directions including:- Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board shall ensure that no untreated, or partly treated pollutant is discharged in water or water bodies or land including rivers in question, which do not comply with the environmental laws and norms and any industry including operators of ETP, STP or CETP shall be closed/sealed, if violation is found to have continued.- Environmental compensation shall be determined by Competent Statutory Regulators, against violators, on the principle of 'Polluter's Pay', after giving show cause notice and opportunity and the said amount of compensation shall also be recovered. This entire exercise shall be completed within 6 months.- RIICO shall pay environmental compensation of Rs. 2 Crores by depositing the same with the Central Pollution Control Board.- The local bodies/authorities of District Barmer and Jodhpur each shall pay compensation of Rs. 2 Crores within 15 days with RSPCB and in case steps required to be taken by them for stopping pollution for complying with the directions mentioned above within 6 months are failed, they shall pay further compensation of above amount.- A regular monitoring shall be observed by a Committee comprising RSPCB, concerned District Magistrates and Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) and appropriate remedial action including assessment of compensation as well prosecution shall be taken against the violators.Against this order, statutory appeals were filed before the Supreme Court, in which different orders have been passed.Perusing the above, the bench led by Justice Nath placed the matter before CJI Gavai for appropriate orders.To recap, the Court took suo motu cognizance with respect to River Jojari noting that industrial waste, primarily from factories, was being discharged there, affecting hundreds of villages and making drinking water not potable. The registration of the case was preceded by uploading of a documentary named “2 Million Lives at Risk| India's Deadliest River | Marudhara | Jojari | Rajasthan” on YouTube by a channel named “News Pinch” on September 12.Notably, the same bench recently took suo motu cognizance of the lack of functional CCTV cameras in police stations, based on a news report pointing out custodial deaths in the State of Rajasthan. Orders were reserved in the same, while mooting independent monitoring of the CCTV cameras in police stations without any human intervention. On September 26, the order was pronounced, calling for the Rajasthan government's response on 12 questions including whether regular audits are carried out to ensure the functioning of CCTVs.Prior to that, a bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala raised alarm over environmental concerns in the State of Himachal Pradesh, warning that if development activities are allowed to go on unchecked, the state may vanish from the map of the country. A suo motu case was taken up in this regard, which was heard by Justice Nath-led bench. On September 23, the bench pronounced an order directing the State to file comprehensive and verified responses on a wide range of issues concerning its fragile ecology and environmental conditions, in the wake of unprecedented monsoon rains that wreaked havoc across the State earlier this year.Case Title: IN RE: 2 MILLION LIVES AT RISK, CONTAMINATION IN JOJARI RIVER, RAJASTHAN Versus, SMW(C) No. 8/2025Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Bench Places Suo Motu Case On Jojari River Contamination Before CJI BR Gavai

Debby Jain

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