2025 Supreme(SC) 1218
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
B.R. Gavai, CJI, K. Vinod Chandran, N.V. Anjaria, J.
In Re: T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad – Petitioner
Versus
Union of India and others – Respondents
I.A. Nos. 79569, 79576, 159670 And 159677 of 2019, I.A. Nos.14261 And 14262 of 2021, I.A. Nos. 40599, 40624 And 220675 of 2023, I.A. Nos.111336 And 137276 of 2025 In Writ Petition (C) No. 202 of 1995
Decided On : 06-08-2025
For the Petitioner(s): Mr. K. Parameshwar, Sr. Adv. (A.C.) Mr. M.V. Mukunda, Adv. Ms. Kanti, Adv. Mr. Raji Gururaj, Adv. Mr. Shreenivas Patil, Adv. Mr. Veda Singh, Adv. Mr. Prasad Hegde, Adv. Ms. Purnima Bhat, AOR Mr. Shyam D. Nandan, AOR Ms. Nandana Menon, Adv. Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR M/S. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR
For the Respondent(s):Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR Mr. Shakeel Ahmed, Adv. Ms. Pratibha Singh, Adv. Ms. Shalini Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Gupta, Adv. Mr. Anupam Bhati, Adv. Mr. Nakul Chaudhary, Adv. Mr. Vikram Patralekh, Adv. Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Colin Gonsalves, Sr. Adv. Mr. Vivek Vishal Gautam, Adv. Mr. Lalit Mohan, Adv. Mr. Paul Kumar Kalai, Adv. Mr. S. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR Mr. Pranab Samantaray, Adv. Mr. Manoranjan Paikaray, Adv. M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, ASG Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR Mr. Surya Kant, AOR Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR Ms. Mehraj, Adv. Mr. Vikalp Gupta, Adv. Ms. Urvi Gupta, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mrs. Vandna Beri, Adv. Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR Mr. Bhavanishankar V.gadnis, Adv. Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR Mr. Vishwanath Gadnis, Adv. Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Rajesh, AOR M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Ms. Richa Tiwari, Adv. Mr. B V Deepak, AOR Mr. T. N. Singh, AOR Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR Mr. Rajendra Sahu, Adv. Ms. Hema Sahu, Adv. Mr. Rishabh Sahu, Adv. Mr. Narinder Kumar Verma, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR Mr. Rajesh Singh, AOR Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Chaman Sharma, Adv. Mr. Supriya, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Kumar Solanki, Adv. Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh, Adv. Mr. Mahi Pal Singh, Adv. Mr. Varun Varma, Adv. Mr. Ishank Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Subham Rajhans, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Shukla, Adv. Ms. Manisha Chawla, Adv. Ms. Niharika Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Jatin Malik, Adv. Mr. Javed Raza, Adv. Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR Mr. Raghav Pandey, Adv. Ms. Gauri Pandey, Adv. Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. T. V. George, AOR Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR Mr. Rajesh Maurya, Adv. Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Parth Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Shubham Singh, Adv. Mr. Youkteshwari Prasad, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Mata Prasad Pathak, Adv. Mr. Vijay Singh, Adv. Ms. Ambali Vedasen, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Tomar, Adv. Mr. Soumyadeep Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Mayur Raj, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Tushar Rawal, Adv. Ms. Shalini Satyanarayan, Adv. Mr. T.v. Surendranath, Adv. Mr. Ramendra Nath Makhal, Adv. Mr. Kirtikar Sukul, Adv. Mr. Richa Shrivastav, Adv. Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR Ms. Rifat Ara Butt, Adv. Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR Mr. Rathin Das, AOR Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR Ms. C. K. Sucharita, AOR Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. A. Sumathi, AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR Ms. Divya Roy, AOR Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. Amarjit Singh Bedi, Adv. Ms. Surekha Raman, Adv. Mr. Shreyash Kumar, Adv. Mr. Harshit Singh, Adv. Mr. Yashwant Sanjenbam, Adv. Mr. Sidharth Nair, Adv. Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Abhinandini Sharma, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Amogh Bansal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Mr. K. R. Sasiprabhu, AOR Mr. Anupam Raina, Adv. Mr. Deepak Goel, AOR Mr. Vikash Singh, AOR Mr. Nishanth Patil, AOR M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Ms. Sugandha Anand , AOR Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Mr. Deeptakirti Verma, AOR Ms. Usha Nandini V., AOR Mr. Avneesh Arputham, AOR Mr. Ankit Sharma, Adv. Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Vivek Jain, AOR Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR Ms. Manisha, Adv. Ms. Rupali, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Kumar Bansal, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Kumar Gupta, Adv. Ms. Nandita Bansal, Adv. Ms. Chandrika Upadhaya, Adv. Mr. Aathrva Upadhaya, Adv. Ms. Rani Mishra, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Venkata Raghuvamsy D. , AOR Ms. Swathi H. Prasad, AOR Mr. Adeel Ahmed, AOR Mr. Abul Kibriya, Adv. Mr. Aamir Hussain, Adv. Mr. Saalik Islam, Adv. Ms. Shreemoyee Bhattacharjee, Adv. Mr. Ajay Agarwal, A.A.G. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv. Ms. Aditi Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv. Ms. Chitransha Singh Sikarwar, Adv. Mr. Vijay S. Khamkar, Adv. Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Ms. Richa Tiwari, Adv. Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv. Mr. Krishna Rastogi, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Vivek Gupta, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR Dr. Amandeep Gaur, Adv. Mr. S Ramamoorthy, Adv. Mr. S Senthil Elangovan, Adv. M/s V. Maheshwari & Co., AOR Mr. Mayank Aggarwal, AOR Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Ms. Bipasa Tripathy, Adv. Mr. Shlok Luthra, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Suman Kukrety, AOR Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhashini Sen, Adv. Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. P. K. Manohar, AOR Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Mr. P.B. Suresh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Shoeb Alam, Sr. Adv. Ms. Parul Shukla, AOR Mr. Saday Mondol, Adv. Ms. Shubhangi Pandey, Adv. Ms. Debatmaja Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar Umrao, AOR Mr. Arun K. Sinha, AOR Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR Mr. Aman Pawar, A.A.G. Mr. Sanchit Garga, AOR Ms. Shilpa Singh, AOR Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Mr. Rajiv Kumar Choudhry , AOR Mr. Anurag Tandon, AOR Mr. Aastik Dhingra, Adv. Mr. Umesh Kumar, Adv. Ms. Dr. Monika Gusain, Sr. Adv. Mr. B.k. Satija, A.A.G. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Mr. Hariom Yaduvanshi, Adv. Mr. Arjun Yaduvanshi, Adv. Ms. S. Harini, Adv. Mr. Avi Dhankhar, Adv. Mr. Vansmani Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Aahana Jaiswal, Adv. Ms. Drishti Rawal, Adv. Ms. Drishti Saraf, Adv. Ms. Tanya Gupta, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. Mayur Goyal, Adv. Mr. Omanakuttan K. K., AOR Mr. Ajit Sharma, AOR Mr. Avijit Roy, AOR Mr. Vishnu Kant, AOR Mr. Irasis Acharya, Adv. Ms. Rajnandini, Adv. Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Neha Singh, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Sharma, AOR Mrs. Aishwrya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Baijnath Patel, Adv. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Mr. Pranjal Sharma, Adv. Ms. Eksha Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Nishant Awana, AOR Mrs. Rini Badoni Awana, Adv. Ms. Rebecca Mishra, Adv. Mr. Suraj Kundu, Adv. Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mrs. Anu K Joy, Adv. Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mrs. Devika A.l., Adv. Mrs. Garima Prashad, Sr. Adv. Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Ms. Kanishka Mittal, Adv. Mr. Krishna Ballabh Thakur, AOR Mrs. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv. Mr. Gaurav Sharma, Adv. Ms. Aruna Gupta, AOR Mr. Ramesh Allanki, Adv. Mr. Syed Ahmad Naqvi, Adv. Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Mr. Yusuf, AOR Mr. Agam Sharma , AOR Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Satyalipsu Ray, Adv. Mr. Deepak Singh, Adv. Mr. Anuj Chaudhary, Adv. Ms. Priyal Sheth, Adv. Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Mr. P. Venkatraju, Adv. Applicant-in-person, AOR Mr. Anant Mann, AOR Mr. Lakshmeesh S. Kamath, AOR Mrs. Samriti Ahuja, Adv. Ms. Aditi Prakash, Adv. Mr. Vikas Kumar, AOR Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR Mr. Kushagra Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anuj Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Akarsh Khare, Adv. Mr. K. M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Ms. Sunieta Ojha, AOR Mr. Dinesh Chandra Pandey, AOR Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, AOR Mr. Himinder Lal, AOR Ms. Shruti Jose, AOR Mr. Durgesh Ramchandra Gupta, AOR Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Mr. Aman Gautam, Adv. Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR Mr. Atul Sharma, AOR Mr. Anirudh Sanganeria, AOR Mr. Chinmay Deshpande, Adv. Mr. Shrey Kapoor , AOR Ms. Anne Mathew, AOR Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR Mr. Sarvan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Kumar Tiwari, AOR Ms. Vartika Maurya, Adv. Mr. Prashant Bhushan, Sr. Adv. Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR Ms. Alice Raj, Adv. Ms. Sanjana Grace Thomas, Adv. Ms. Tara Elizabeth Kurien, Adv. Mr. D.p.singh, Adv. Ms. Anchal Kanthed, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Dr. Abhishek Atrey, Adv. Ms. Vidyottma Jha, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Rajan K. Chaurasia, Adv. Mr. Chinmoy Chaitanya, Adv. Ms. Chhavi Khandelwal, Adv. Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv. Ms. Neha Das, Adv. Mr. Shivam Saksena, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bharti, Adv. Ms. Lakshmi N. Kaimal, AOR Mr. Subhasish Mohanty, AOR Mr Rahul Jain, AOR Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv. Ms. Nina Nariman, Adv. Ms. Tahira Karanjawala, Adv. Mr. Arjun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Sarah Ayreen Mir, Adv. Ms. Sharanya Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Samarth Suri, Adv. M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR Mr. Gopal Shankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv. Ms. Anindita Mitra, AOR Mr. Vishal Sinha, Adv. Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR M/S. D.S.K. Legal, AOR Ms. Shibani Ghosh, AOR Mr. Rishad A Chowdhury, Adv. Ms. Sohini Sanyal, Adv. Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Abhinandini Sharma, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Amogh Bansal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR Mr. Pankaj Sharma, Adv. Mr. Yatinder Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Singh Chauhan, Adv. Ms. Vidushi Pandey, Adv. Mr. Subham Bahuguna, Adv. Mr. Eshan Kumar Saxena, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Kumar, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Rajeev Maheshwaranand Roy, AOR Ms. Ila Shikhar Sheel, AOR M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, AOR Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Manika Tripathy, AOR Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv. Ms. Ishika Neogi, Adv. Ms. Supreeta Sharanagouda, AOR Mr. Sharanagouda Patil, Adv. Mr. Jyotish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Yash S Tiwari, Adv. Mr. Vinod Kumar Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Ranu Purohit , AOR Mr. Ashok Gaur, Adv. Ms. Megha Karnwal, AOR Ms. Sakshi Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Thayrat, Adv. Mr. Avishala Singh, Adv. Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, Sr. Adv, AAG Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR Mr. M.F. Philip, Adv. Mr. Karamveer Singh Yadav, Adv. Mr. Togin M. Babichen, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv. Mr. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Dr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Verma, AOR Mr. Prakash Kumar Singh, AOR Ms. Tanya Srivastava, AOR Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR Mr. Sujit Kumar Mishra , AOR Mr. Aldanish Rein, AOR Mr. Kunal Vajani, Adv. Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Ms. Shraddha Chirania, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Kumar, AOR Mr. Ashish Batra, Adv. Mr. Manan Verma, AOR
The court held that permitting hand pulled carts violates Article 23's prohibition of forced labor, mandating a transition to e-rickshaws while considering environmental protections in an eco-sensitive area.
Headnote:(A) Constitution of India - Article 23 - Prohibition of forced labour - The Court addressed the practice of hand pulled carts in Matheran, declaring it an inhuman practice conflicting with human dignity, thus requiring a ban. Also recognized are eco-sensitive regulations concerning the installation of paver blocks for soil erosion prevention. (Paras 32, 34, 49)
(B) Environmental Law - Eco-Sensitive Zones - The Supreme Court approved the use of clay paver blocks under the advisement of expert groups IIT Bombay and NEERI to curtail soil erosion and sustain accessibility for pedestrians and the local fauna. (Paras 28, 30, 49)
Facts of the case:
The case involved applications concerning environmental management and livelihood of hand cart pullers in Matheran, mandated by regulations prohibiting vehicular traffic while ensuring ecological preservation. Main stakeholders included local residents and municipal authorities responding to tourism impacts.
Findings of Court:
The applications led to directives prohibiting hand-pulled carts, with a transition plan to e-rickshaws for livelihoods, balanced with environmental considerations.
Issues: The main issues encompassed the ecological impact of road repairs, facilitating tourism while protecting local livelihoods, and the legitimacy of human dignity versus economic necessity.
Ratio Decidendi: The Court emphasized the constitutional commitment to abolish forced labour, highlighting that permitting rickshaw pulling violates dignity. It mandated rehabilitation measures for affected workers alongside environmental measures.
Result: The practice of hand pulled carts prohibited, with a phased transition to e-rickshaws, and clay paver blocks approved for road maintenance.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. matheran's ecological significance and population (Para 1 , 2 , 3) |
| 2. government regulations on matheran's ecozone (Para 4 , 5 , 6) |
| 3. regulatory decisions on vehicular restrictions and e-rickshaws. (Para 7) |
| 4. inquiry regarding e-rickshaw allotment in matheran (Para 9 , 10 , 11) |
| 5. legal procedures and expert opinions on environmental measures. (Para 12 , 13 , 14) |
| 6. expert reports on paver blocks for erosion (Para 17 , 21 , 22) |
| 7. human dignity related to forced labour and its constitutional implications. (Para 30 , 31 , 34 , 35) |
| 8. societal implications of forced labor practices (Para 32 , 36 , 39) |
| 9. court's directives on e-rickshaw scheme (Para 45 , 49 , 50) |
JUDGMENT :
B.R. GAVAI, CJI.
1. The present applications pertain to various issues with regard to one of the smallest but one of the most popular hill stations in the State of Maharashtra situated in Raigad District, namely Matheran. It is situated in the biologically rich Western Ghats, and is now recognized as an eco-sensitive region. It is also a home to several species of flora and fauna, including the bonnet macaque, Hanuman langur, Malabar giant squirrel, barking deer, and various endemic orchids, etc.
2. Matheran has a permanent population of approximately about 4,400 persons, as per the 2011 Census. However, apart from the permanent population, the region also sees the inflow of large number of tourists throughout the year and specially during summer. However, lately, the monsoon tourism has also become quite popular in Matheran, when the tourists go to enjoy the monsoon of Matheran. The approximate foot fall of the tourists is around 8 lakhs in a year.
3. Matheran has been known for its uniqueness, inasmuch as it is recognized as the only pedestrian hill station.
4. On 21st November 2000, the Government of Maharashtra communicated its in-principle approval to the Government of India to declare Matheran as an Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ). On 12th July 2001, this Court had issued directions in I.A. Nos.669 and 659 in the present proceedings, that in the interim, Matheran should be recognized as an ESZ. This Court also expressly restricted all vehicular traffic in the region, except for an ambulance and a fire engine.
5. A draft notification was published on 6th February 2002, and the Final Notification was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) on 4th February 2003. Para 4(n) of the said notification restricted the movement of vehicular traffic within the municipal limits of Matheran, except for an ambulance and fire engine and the use of a tractor for transportation of solid waste. By a subsequent order dated 21st July 2003, this Court issued a clarification to its order of 12th July 2001, to the extent that only one ambulance and one fire engine should be allowed in addition to one each as standby in Matheran. In pursuance to the orders passed by this Court, a Notification dated 16th January 2004 came to be issued.
6. It appears that subsequently taking into consideration the changed circumstances, the Government of Maharashtra proposed to lay paver blocks on the road between the Dasturi Naka to Shivaji Maharaj Statue, which is approximately 4 kms., and is a lifeline for the town of Matheran. One of the reasons for laying the paver blocks was to arrest the soil erosion, inasmuch as it was found that on account of heavy rains, there was a possibility of the erosion of soil.
7. There is another issue with regard to the permission to operate battery operated e-rickshaws to replace the practice of hand pulled carts/rickshaws. The Matheran Municipal Council has, accordingly, made an application to this Court to stop the practice of hand pulled carts/rickshaws being plyed on the road.
8. Pursuant to the application made by the Municipal council, the District Collector, Konkan Division opined that the ESZ notification of 4th February 2003 should be amended to allow battery operated e-rickshaws in Matheran. On 25th September 2017, the District Collector,