Gadgil, Kasturirangan reports on Western Ghats not acted upon; time to wake up: Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan

Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan of Bombay High Court on Sunday underlined the inaction of State as well as Central governments on reports identifying significant portions of the Western Ghats as Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA)..In 2011, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), also known as the Gadgil Commission, had identified 70% of the Western Ghats as ESA.Two years later, the report was examined by the Kasturirangan Commission, which brought only 37% of Western Ghats under ESA. .Both these reports were not acted upon and it is time to wake up, he said while highlighting the recent Wayanad landslide in Kerala which left more than 420 dead and over 118 people missing. "In 2011, there was Gadgil report which actually identified 70% of the footprint as being fragile. In 2 years, it was reviewed by another committee, reducing it to 37%. Both reports were not acted upon across the governance systems of the States as well as the Centre and we have what we have. So it is time for a wake up call. It is a very important timing that we have to think about," he said..The Bombay High Court judge was speaking at a technical session at the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA)'s International Conference on 'Law and Technology: Sustainable Transport, Tourism and Technological Innovations' at Kumarakom in Kerala. The theme of the session was 'Collaborative approaches and best practices in eco-tourism and transportation law.'.In his address, Justice Sundaresan also highlighted the Ankola landslide of last month, the Raigad landslides of 2023, the recent entry ban at a waterfall in Bhimashankar and the sinking of Jyotirmath in Uttarakhand.Against this backdrop, he said that the issue is no longer about intergenerational equity but about intragenerational equity, given that these disasters have taken place in the past two or three years."The point I am trying to make is that it is no longer intergenerational equity but is an intragenerational equity issue. All the episodes I have spoken about are the past 2-3 years. So why pitch it on a intergenerational zone?" he said..Human greed, Wayanad disaster, climate change: What Justice BR Gavai said in Kerala.In another session held at the conference, Justice Suraj Govindaraj of Karnataka High Court highlighted the mind-boggling amount of paper used by the judiciary as well as the executive and called for increased electronic functioning. .He said that the judiciary is in the process of digitizing 3,600 crore pages and highlighted that producing such volumes of paper would require cutting down 1.44 crore 45-feet long pine trees. "This 1.44 crore trees is only for what we have in the judiciary. Now imagine in the Attorney General's office, Solicitor General's office, the litigants...each file is multiplied by four....That makes it around 6 crore trees," he added.Further, he suggested promotion of e-filing and hybrid hearings for reducing transportation.He also advocated having solar and wind powered courts as judiciary's contribution towards the preservation of the environment. Justice Govindaraj also urged the government to explore the possibility of promoting e-tourism. He suggested that 20% of the proceeds from ticket sales could go to the municipality of the tourist site in question.