Char Dham Project

The Supreme Court has modified its earlier 2020 order which had directed the centre to not widen the three Himalayan Highways (Rishikesh to Mana, Rishikesh to Gangotri and Tanakpur to Pithoragarh) based on environmental concerns.

• It has now allowed the Union Ministry of Defence to widen the roads for the Centre’s 899-km Char Dham project in Uttarakhand, due to its strategic importance for border and national security.

Implications of the Judgment

• It denies people their right to clean and healthy environment enshrined under Article 21 of Indian constitution.
• Right to healthy environment is an important attribute of right to live with human dignity.

Earlier Judgments related to Right to Live in Healthy Environment

• The right to live in a healthy environment as part of Article 21 of the Constitution was first recognized in the case of Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra vs. State, 1988 (Dehradun Quarrying Case) whereby Supreme Court directed to stop the excavation (illegal mining) under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
• In M.C. Mehta Case, 1987 the Supreme Court treated the right to live in pollution free environment as a part of fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.