Home / Environment / SC Slams Bureaucrats: Verify Wetlands or Face Court
SC Slams Bureaucrats: Verify Wetlands or Face Court
3 Aug
Summary
- Supreme Court demands physical verification of all identified wetlands.
- Officials warned of summons if wetland demarcation remains on paper.
- India's top court is escalating its oversight of wetland protection efforts.
The Supreme Court has issued a stringent directive demanding the physical verification and demarcation of all wetlands identified in the Space Applications Centre (SAC) Atlas within two months. Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi emphasized that the statutory process of "ground-truthing" under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, requires on-the-ground identification, not mere paper compliance.
This order signifies a critical escalation in the apex court's monitoring of wetland protection efforts, which has been ongoing since 2018. The court expressed dissatisfaction with reported instances where compliance remained a desk exercise, with wetlands identified via satellite imagery not being physically inspected or verified on site.
Consequently, the bench warned that failure to conduct thorough physical verification could lead to secretaries and other senior officials being summoned to court. The court recalled previous directions issued on December 11, 2024, and reiterated on August 19, October 7, and October 28, 2025, highlighting that the exercise is a statutory obligation.
The court's latest directive aims to ensure that wetland authorities conduct the "ground-truthing" and boundary demarcation processes diligently and physically, moving beyond mere administrative documentation to effective conservation.
