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The Supreme Court froze the status of legal persons accorded to rivers Ganga and Yamuna by the Uttarakhand High Court in March 2017.

Background

• High Court had invoked the rivers Ganga and Yamuna 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.
• The Director, Namami Gange project, for cleaning and rejuvenating the river, the Chief Secretary and the Advocate General of Uttarakhand to act as legal parents of the holy rivers.
• These officers would be bound to uphold the status of the two rivers and also promote their health and well-being.
• It had also directed the government to form a Ganga Management Board as per a December 2016 order.
• The high court had also banned all mining on the river bed and directed eviction of encroachers.

Burden over the state

• Order cast a huge burden on the state government which was expected to take care of it like a human being and be accountable for its upkeep and preservation.
• The ruling would make the state solely accountable for its upkeep and preservation when the rivers passed through several states.
• The central government should then be charged with the task.

Source : The Hindu

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