Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
MP Satnam Sandhu moves private member bill on legal personhood status to rivers in Parliament
Saving Indian Rivers: Rajya Sabha Member Satnam Singh Sandhu seeks Legal Protection for Indian Rivers; moves Private Member Bill for Grant of Legal Personhood to Rivers in Parliament
Babushahi Bureau
New Delhi, February 7, 2025 – Aimed primarily at conservation of rivers in the country, a private member bill – Recognition of Legal Person Status of Rivers Bill - 2024 was moved by Member of Parliament (MP) Rajya Sabha Satnam Singh Sandhu during the ongoing Budget session of the Parliament on Friday.
Emphasizing the urgent need to protect the vital natural resource, the bill aims to recognize rivers as ‘legal person’, entitling them with legal rights similar to humans as enshrined in the Article 21 of the Indian Constitution thus allowing them to not only exist but flourish and be protected from any harm.
Notably, there are more than 400 rivers in India.
The bill presented in the Parliament stated that rivers with a length of 40 kilometers be given legal protection and sought the establishment of Rivers Protection Committee to ensure protection, sustainable management, health and well-being of rivers in the country.Union Government shall within six month of notification of this Act, establish the Rivers Protection Committee to provide for provisions of this Act.
The committee will also be responsible to maintain a Register of Rivers to monitor and assess the status and condition of rivers across the country.
The Rivers Protection Committee will be comprised of 13 persons appointed by appropriate government including Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Secretary, Jal Shakti Ministry, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and one person each nominated by President of Indi and Prime Minister of India among others, stated the Private Member Bill.
Satnam Singh Sandhu, Rajya Sabha Members said, “Recognition of Legal Person Status of Rivers Bill – 2024 seeks granting of personhood to rivers. The primary objective of this bill is to address pressing environmental issues, including the unchecked pollution and degradation of river ecosystems in the country that have been ignored for a long time. This bill is also aligned to India’s ancient cultural reverence for rivers that have always been seen as sacred and essential to the nation’s identity and remained integral part of our heritage, culture and survival. Historically, the water has always been the basis of life and equated with the father and rivers have been compared to mother in India.”
“Granting personhood rights to rivers will enhance conservation efforts and promote sustainable management of water resources.
The bill once enacted into a law will pave the way for effective conservation of rivers in the country; Rivers Protection Committee will be empowered to regulating river surface activities, overseeing river health and impose penalties for non-compliance with the new law.
For those found in violation of the law for harming the rivers, there will be a provision to impose a fine of Rs 150 Crores and imprisoned up to one year,” added Sandhu.
He further said, “Apart from environmental implications, the financial memorandum of the bill estimates a recurring expenditure of approximately Rs 300 crore annually and a non-recurring expenditure of Rs 50 crore to establish and operate the Rivers Protection Committee and the Register of Rivers. This will be funded through the Consolidated Fund of India.”
After enactment of this Act, for the management of activities on surface of river water the committee must collectively establish a process to collaborate to see how activities carried out on the surface of river water are being regulated, how to improve and coordinate the management of those activities, assess the existing regulatory provisions for managing and controlling activities on the surface of rivers, oversee the relationship between activities on the surface of the Whanganui river and activities on land adjacent to the river and take up matters relevant to public health and safety, stated the bill.
It is pertinent to mention that countries like New Zealand have already shown path in the legal and legislative domain by granting legal personhood to rivers, enabling them to be protected and charging entities against pollution and degradation.
In 2017, rivers Ganga and Yamuna were recognized by the Uttarakhand High Court as living entities with the status of legal people and accorded the rights similar to fundamental and legal rights to humans.