The right to a clean and healthy environment is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, and the State has a duty to maintain ecological balance and prioritize the larger public interest.

Judgment

DALVEER BHANDARI, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. In a public interest litigation instituted under Article 226 of the Constitution, the High Court of Rajasthan at Jodhpur, by the impugned judgment, has directed that the milk dairies located in the city of Jodhpur be shifted from their present location to alternative sites. These appeals by grant of special leave are preferred against the said judgment and order dated 12th July, 2004 of the High Court passed in D.B. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No.4409 of 1994.

3. Both these appeals are inter-connected and are arising out of a common judgment, therefore, we would refer to the facts as mentioned in Civil Appeal No. 246 of 2007 arising out of SLP (C) NO.16751 of 2004.

4. The appellant-Milkmen Colony Vikas Samiti is an association of milkmen engaged in the business of selling milk and milk products in the city of Jodhpur (Rajasthan) for the last 44 years. The Government of Rajasthan vide Notification No. F.1 LSG/56 dated 5.11.1956 introduced a scheme, namely, Masuriya Colony Scheme, under which the members of the appellant Samiti and other milkmen, who were carrying on business of selling milk and milk products, were allotted plots of land in the city of Jodhpur @ RS.2/- per sq. yards. In all, 332 plots were allotted by the Government under the said scheme to different milkmen for developing dairies. Since 1956, the said milkmen have been carrying their business of selling milk and milk products in the above colony. The said colony was duly conceived and planned as a milkmen colony by the Urban Improvement Trust, Jodhpur with the approval of the State Government.

5. It is stated that the owners of the bovine animals, in the city of Jodhpur, after milching the bovine animals were turning them out of dairies so that they could eat whatever was available on the roads. The stray cattle including the cows, bulls, dogs etc. freely roam in the city of Jodhpur and in the porch of the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, the principal government hospital in the city. It is further stated that the excreta of these animals was also visible all over, even in the corridors of the High Court. This totally unhygienic, unhealthy and injurious practice was creating considerable nuisance to the citizens of the city of Jodhpur.

6. The citizens of the City, being aggrieved by the said nuisance caused by the stray cattle and dogs, filed a petition in public interest in the High Court of Rajasthan at Jodhpur through the Rajasthan Chapter of Indian Association of Lawyers, respondent no.4 herein, associated with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers established in 1946 and in consultative status with UN Economic and Social Council, UNESCO and UNICEF.

7. In the instant petition, it was stated that stray animals, such as, bulls, dogs and cattle were roaming all around inside and outside the city freely. Cattle were found loitering and squatting on the roads of Jodhpur City and that they were causing danger to human life and were creating a traffic hazard. It is stated in the petition that the entire city was full of dirt, refuge and was stinking beyond all limits and that the excreta of stray cattle was a breeding ground for various diseases. Drains were clogged and sewerage water was getting mixed up with the drinking water spreading many diseases. These unhygienic and unhealthy prevalent conditions are adversely affecting the quality of life of the residents living in the city of Jodhpur and thereby impinging upon their constitutional rights enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. In the writ petition, following reliefs were prayed:

1. To direct the respondent Jodhpur Municipal Corporation and the Urban Improvement Trust to take steps to ensure that animals and cattle do not inhibit roads and public places and make proper arrangement in this behalf;

2. In order to oversee that all this is done, to appoint a Committee constituting of eminent citizens authorizing such Committee to see:

(i) that the d