'Mother Nature' is a living being... with rights and duties': Madras High Court

Abstract

The Madras High Court has invoked the "parens patriae jurisdiction" to declare Mother Nature as a Living Being with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person, in order to preserve and conserve them.

The Madurai bench of the HC in its recent order placed immense importance on conserving nature, while dealing with a petition from a former Tahsildar-level official who sought to quash the disciplinary proceedings against him for allegedly granting patta (land deed) for government land classified as "Forest Poramboke Land" to certain individuals.

Justice S Srimathy recalled an earlier judgement of the Uttarakhand High Court, where it had invoked "parens patriae jurisdiction" (parent of the nation jurisdiction) and declared the glaciers including Gangotri and Yamunotri rivers as legal entities to preserve and conserve them.

She said the past generations have handed over Mother Earth in its pristine glory and that we are morally bound to hand over the same to the next generation. [Read More]