Supreme Court Proposes Full Study Of Himalayan Region's Carrying Capacity
The carrying capacity is the maximum population size that an ecosystem can sustain without getting degraded.
New Delhi: The carrying capacity of the country's Himalayan area, where uncontrolled expansion has recently wreaked havoc, was raised by the Supreme Court on Monday.
The court referred to it as a "very important issue" and proposed the formation of an expert group to perform a "complete and comprehensive" assessment.
The carrying capacity is the highest population a system can support without suffering harm.
A petition asking for an evaluation of the carrying capacity and master plans for the Indian Himalayan Region, which spans 13 states and union territories, was being heard by a bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
The petitioner's attorney, Ashok Kumar Raghav, told the bench that the Himalayan region was experiencing devastation virtually every single day, necessitating a thorough investigation by professional organizations.
So, the bench, which also included Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, stated, "We can appoint say three or four of these institutions who will nominate their representatives and we can ask them to carry out a complete and comprehensive study on carrying capacity within the Himalayan region."
The bench requested a brief statement from the petitioner's attorney outlining which institutions should serve as these panels' primary sources of expertise and what their general mandates should be.
It requested that the attorney send his memo in advance to Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, who was representing the Centre.
"The committee will be formed." This is a very important issue which he (the petitioner) has raised," the bench noted, adding, "You can probably sit down and give us the way forward then."
The petitioner's attorney claimed that the government had already created a "carrying capacity template."
Bhati also informed the bench that such a template was created, citing a National Green Tribunal (NGT) judgment. She claimed that the Center had written to the states and union territories, and that they now needed to demonstrate what they had done in response.
When the petitioner's attorney referred to various professional institutes which can do a full investigation on this matter, the court said,"
These institutes should collaborate on a thorough analysis that should last three to four months and produce useful carrying capacity tools and a blueprint for the entire Himalayan region. According to Bhati, there are 16 respondents to the petition, including 13 states.
The bench posted the case for hearing on August 28 and stated that it would ask the states to react to your template within four or eight weeks.
"Serious ecological and environmental depredation are taking place in the hills due to non-existent carrying/bearing capacity studies," the plea has stated. "Grave geological hazards in the form of landslides, land subsidence, land cracking and sinking issues such as that in Joshimath are being witnessed."
It stated that "no carrying capacities have been assessed for any of the places in the state," adding that "almost all hill stations, pilgrimage sites, and other tourism destinations spread over the Dhauladhar Circuit, Satluj Circuit, Beas Circuit, and Tribal Circuit in Himachal Pradesh also remain greatly burdened and are almost on the verge of collapse."
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