## Facts

- A public interest petitioner challenged severe pollution of the Ganga and alleged inadequate governmental action to prevent sewage and industrial effluent discharges.
- The court earlier issued extensive directions to protect and clean the river and retained the matter for compliance monitoring through continuing mandamus.
- In a later miscellaneous application within the same PIL, the petitioner sought recognition of the Himalayas and connected natural features—glaciers (including Gangotri and Yamunotri), rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, forests, grasslands, springs, waterfalls, and air—as legal entities.
- The petitioner argued that effective protection of the river required protection of its sources and supporting ecosystems and requested legal personhood comparable to prior judicial recognition for certain rivers.
- The court entertained the application in public interest, applying liberal PIL procedure despite the main petition’s prior merits disposition.

## Issues

1. Whether, in a PIL under writ jurisdiction and continuing mandamus, the court could declare specified natural entities and ecosystems to be legal/juristic persons with enforceable rights, duties, and liabilities.
2. Whether such recognition could be justified through constitutional environmental protections under Article 21, the public trust doctrine, and parens patriae jurisdiction.

## Decision

- The court allowed the miscellaneous application.
- The court declared glaciers (including Gangotri and Yamunotri), rivers, streams, rivulets, lakes, air, meadows, dales, jungles, forests, wetlands, grasslands, springs, and waterfalls to be legal/juristic persons with the status of legal persons and “corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person.”
- The court stated that these entities were accorded rights akin to fundamental rights and legal rights.
- The court appointed human guardians (persons in loco parentis) to represent and protect these natural entities and directed authorities to treat them accordingly.

## Legal Principles

- Public interest litigation permits flexible procedure; technical pleading constraints are subordinate to securing effective public remedies, and courts may supervise compliance through continuing mandamus.
- Article 21’s right to life includes protection of environmental health, supporting judicial measures aimed at preventing ecological degradation.
- Under the public trust doctrine, the state holds natural resources in trust for present and future generations and must prevent their impairment.
- Parens patriae authority supports appointing human representatives to assert and defend the interests of entities unable to act for themselves.
- Legal personhood may be conferred on natural entities to enable standing, representation, and remedial enforcement through guardians acting on their behalf.

## Conclusion

The court extended constitutional and public trust–based environmental protection by recognizing a broad set of natural features and ecosystems as legal persons and establishing guardianship to enable enforcement of their rights and related obligations in legal proceedings.


Miglani v. State of Uttarakhand, W.P. (PIL) No. 140 of 2015 (Uttarakhand High Ct. 2017)