Environment As Living Entity- Need For Further Clarity In The Rights Framework

Recently the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a 2009 suo motu case on depleting water levels in the Lake Sukhna in Chandigarh; declared the lake to be a living person with the rights, duties and liabilities of a minor. Based on this the Court exercised its parens patriae jurisdiction to declare that 'the Glaciers including Gangotri & Yamunotri, rivers, streams, rivulets, lakes, air, meadows, dales, jungles, forests wetlands, grasslands, springs and waterfalls, legal entity/ legal person/juristic person/juridical person/ moral person/artificial person having the status of a legal person, with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person, in order to preserve and conserve them.' Environmentalists also argue that the status of a living person would enable water bodies, through their representatives to enter into contracts with third parties in matters of constructions that could affect the body- such as hydroelectric projects, canals, dams, etc. It is unclear whether vesting environmental bodies with rights would mean something beyond the already prescribed duties for the states and individuals.