Supreme Court orders states, UTs to complete inspection of wetlands in 3 months

New Delhi, Dec 20: The Supreme Court has directed states and union territories to complete inspection of wetlands identified by the Space Application Center Atlas within three months.

A bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said according to ISRO the number of wetlands in India of over 2.25 hectare was 2,01,503 before 2017.

The latest ISRO data, which is of 2021, shows the figure has increased to 2,31,195, it noted.

“Now these figures have to be checked on ground. The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 and the guidelines issued thereunder prescribe that the next step after identification of such wetlands is what is called ground truthing, which is the term given to the actual inspection of these wetlands by a team constituted by the state for that purpose,” it said.

The court observed the step was however neglected by almost all states, except the Punjab to some extent.

“As regards demarcation of these wetlands all states have done almost nothing up till now,” the bench said.

The top court said ground truthing and the demarcation of wetland boundary was the next step which each state and UT had to carry out through the wetland authority in coordination with nodal department concerned under the rules.

“It is a statutory function which has been assigned to them under the Rules. We, therefore, direct each of the state/UT wetland authorities to complete ground truthing as well as the demarcation of wetland boundaries of each of the Wetland which have been identified for their State by Space Application Center Atlas (SAC Atlas), 2021,” the bench said on December 11.

The exercise was ordered to be done expeditiously, but within three months.

Additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati assured the court the Centre of monitoring each of state and file an affidavit before the next hearing.

Advocate Akash Vashishtha, appearing for intervenors Manu Bhatnagar and Vikrant Tongad, submitted that apart from the 2,31,195 wetlands over 2.25 hectare in size identified by ISRO, there were 5,55,557 wetlands of 2.25 hectare.

The top court directed its Registrar General to send the complete list of all 85 Ramsar sites to the high courts which should treat the affidavit as a suo moto PIL and ensure the sites within their jurisdiction were properly maintained.

A Ramsar site is a wetland of international importance

The matter was posted on March 25, 2025.

The top court was hearing a PIL by bird enthusiast Anand Arya, advocate M K Balakrishnan and NGO Vanashakti.