M. K. Balakrishnan vs. Union Of India Ministry Of Environment, Forest And Climate Change Secretary

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ITEM NO.1 COURT NO.1 SECTION PIL-W

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Writ Petition (Civil) No.230/2001

M.K. BALAKRISHNAN & ORS. Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, Respondent(s) FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE & ORS.

(With IA No. 203606/2022 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION)

Date : 10-07-2023 These matters were called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA

Ms. Ruby Mohd. Wasim, Adv. Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. B. Balaji, AOR Dr. Manish Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Arpit Parkash, Adv. Ms. Shubhangi Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Anil Shrivastav, AAG, AOR Mr. Shantwanu Singh, Adv. Mr. Rahul Dubey, Adv. Ms. Pragya Singh, Adv. Mr. Sunny Singh, Adv. Mr. Akshay Singh, Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. Kunal Verma, AOR Mr. G.N. Reddy, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Sai Shashank, Adv. Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Mr. Bhagwati Prasad, Adv. Ms. Devyani Bhatt, Adv. Ms. Supriya Juneja, AOR Mr. Alok Sangwan, Adv. Mr. Sumit Sharma, Adv. Ms. Monika Gusain, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Visen, AOR

Mr. Abhinav Mukerji, AOR Mr. Akshay C. Shrivastava, Adv. Mrs. Bihu Sharma, Adv. Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, AOR Mr. V.N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Manendra Pal Gupta, Adv. Mr. Md. Apzal Ansari, Adv. Mr. P.V. Dinesh, AOR Ms. Urvashi Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.K. Nayak, Adv. Mr. K.V. Kharlyngdoh, Adv. Mr. Daniel Lyngdoh, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Ms. Limayinla Jamir, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Mr. Sibo Sankar Mishra, AOR Mr. Niranjan Sahu, Adv. Ms. Prabhati Nayak, Adv. Mr. Debabrata Dash, Adv. Ms. Apoorva Sharma, Adv. Mr. Vinod Ghai, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ajay Pal, AOR Mr. Aman Pal, AAG

Mr. Amardeep Hooda, Adv. Mr. Mayank Dahiya, Adv. Ms. Sugandh Rathor, Adv. Mr. Narendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, Adv. Mr. Anand Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. R. Ayyam Perumal, AOR Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR Mr. M.F. Philip, Adv. Mr. Karamveer Singh Yadav, Adv. Mr. Ravindra Raizada, AAG Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Ms. Mantika Haryani, Adv. Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Bhanu Mishra, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Ms. G. Indira, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Uma Bhuvaneswari C., Adv. Mr. Abbas B., Adv. Mrs. D. Bharathi Reddy, AOR Mr. Aviral Saxena, Adv. Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

1 Mr Gopal Sankaranarayanan, senior counsel submits that since the orders of this Court dated 8 February 2017 and 4 October 2017, there has been a material change in the extent of wetlands identified under the Indian Wetlands Atlas 2021 prepared by ISRO which has increased from 2.01 lakh hectares to 2.31 lakh hectares. Hence, it has been submitted that the protection which was granted by this Court may be extended to the expanded area as well.

• 2 Ms Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General submits that some time may be granted to her especially on this aspect, having regard to the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules which have come into force in 2017.
• 3 List the Petition along with Writ Petition (C) No 304 of 2018 on 21 July 2023.

(CHETAN KUMAR) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR) A.R.-cum-P.S. Assistant Registrar