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In Re: 2 Million Lives at Risk, Contamination in Jojari River, Rajasthan

Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026 INSC 316Decided 18 Mar 2026
SMW(C) No.-000008-000008 - 2025 (with connected Civil Appeal Nos. 5517-5519, 8748, 9057-9058, 9010-9011 of 2022)
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Sandeep Mehta

Background

This is a suo motu (self-initiated) case taken up by the Supreme Court over severe, long-standing pollution of the Jojari, Luni, and connected river systems in Jodhpur, Pali, and Balotra districts of Rajasthan, caused largely by untreated industrial effluent discharge. The Court had earlier (November 2025) modified an interim stay on National Green Tribunal directions and set up a High-Level Ecosystem Oversight Committee, chaired by a retired High Court judge, to investigate and monitor remedial action. This order follows a series of hearings in which the Committee submitted status reports documenting the extent of contamination, inadequate effluent and sewage treatment infrastructure, and administrative inaction by the State of Rajasthan and its agencies including RIICO (the state industrial development corporation).

Decision Breakdown

The Court found that the Committee's field findings fully substantiated the earlier concerns about grave and worsening environmental degradation, and identified a pattern of administrative apathy and regulatory inaction by the State and its instrumentalities despite repeated warnings. It issued a wide-ranging set of interim directions: the State must examine setting up a dedicated environmental restoration and compensation fund, identify and initiate disciplinary action against negligent or complicit officials, and ensure sustainable (not ad-hoc tanker-based) potable drinking water supply to affected villages. Noting that warnings and regulatory directions alone had failed to produce compliance, the Court directed that Special Courts be established in Jodhpur, Pali, and Balotra districts (with the Rajasthan High Court's cooperation) for expeditious prosecution of environmental offences, and grounded all these directions in the fundamental right to life under Article 21, which it held includes the right to clean water and a pollution-free environment. The Committee was directed to file a further status report before the next hearing, listed for 21 July 2026.

Lesson Learnt

The right to a clean environment and safe drinking water is treated by the Supreme Court as part of the fundamental right to life under Article 21, enforceable through continuing judicial monitoring, and persistent non-compliance by government authorities can lead to court-ordered special courts, compensation funds, and personal accountability for negligent officials, not just repeated warnings.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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