High Court seeks status of 7 wetlands declared Ramsar sites in J&K, Ladakh

Srinagar, Nov 20: The High Court Monday granted a final opportunity to the Jammu and Kashmir government to file the report indicating the status of seven wetlands recognised to be of international importance and declared Ramsar Sites in J&K and Ladakh.
Observing the failure of the government to file the status report as a “serious lapse”, a division bench of Chief Justice N Kotiswar Singh and Justice M A Chowdhary while hearing a suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) noted that despite the order passed by the court on September 9 last year, J&K government has not yet filed the report.

It said that the Union Territory of Ladakh had filed the same.
“Considering the importance attached to the issue and the desire of the Supreme Court to have the matter monitored by this court, we are of the view that failure to file a status report by the Union Territory of J&K is a serious lapse,” the bench said.
While granting the final opportunity to the Jammu and Kashmir government to file the report without fail, the court said: “Failure to do so will result in appropriate penal action against those responsible.”

During the proceedings of the court, amicus curiae, Nadeem Qadri cited a report published on July 23 this year in Greater Kashmir titled ‘Anchar Lake in death throes’ and submitted that an immediate intervention from the court was required to protect the lake.
In its report, Greater Kashmir indicated that once known for crystal clear waters, Anchar Lake in Srinagar was on the verge of extinction as the lake had been a victim of decades of official apathy and greed of unscrupulous people.

In response to the submission by amicus curiae, the court asked him to submit relevant documentation and at the same time, it directed the government to indicate in its status report the current condition of the Anchar Lake.

Initially, four wetlands of J&K and Ladakh were recognised to be of international importance and were declared as Ramsar sites under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
There are now seven wetlands covered under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands including Hokersar, Wular Lake, Shalbugh and Haigam in Kashmir Valley, Tso Moriri and Tso Kar in Ladakh, and Surinsar-Mansar lakes in Jammu.

J&K High Court in compliance with directions by the Supreme Court on April 3, 2017, had treated an affidavit filed by the petitioner M K Balakrishnan before the apex court regarding certain wetlands which were covered under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands as PIL.
The top court had asked the chief justices of the concerned High Courts to treat the affidavit as a suo moto PIL to ensure that the Ramsar Convention sites within their jurisdiction were properly maintained.

The High Court of J&K under the directions registered the affidavit as PIL on its motion and in its first order on the PIL on August 28, 2018 and urged for the need to set up a regulatory mechanism for all wetlands to maintain their ecological character and ultimately support their integrated management in the three regions (Kashmir,
Jammu, and Ladakh) of the then state Jammu and Kashmir.
In an order passed earlier, the court had directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to submit an action taken report in connection with these wetlands.

The Central Government has identified 2 lakh wetlands in the country and the Supreme Court on the concern of wetlands under “Ramsar Conservation Sites” directed all the States & UTs for new wetland rules and expressed the urgency for the management of wetlands.

As per the ‘Atlas Ecology and Remote Sensing’ of the State, there are 1230 wetlands identified in the State under ‘Ramsar Conservation Sites’ and under Rule 5 of the concerned rules, authority has to be in place for the management of wetlands.