Ashish.MehtaJaipur: Expressing concern over what it described as large-scale destruction of Udaipur’s fragile hill ecosystem, Rajasthan High Court’s principal seat at Jodhpur has observed that the Lake City’s iconic hills are “on the verge of extinction” after being extensively cut to make way for hotels, resorts and commercial establishments.Hearing a petition filed by Basant Hotels Pvt Ltd, the single bench of Justice Sameer Jain said on July 24 that the matter has assumed dimensions far beyond an individual dispute and indicated that the court may initiate a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) to examine the ecological degradation of Udaipur under Public Trust Doctrine.The observations came after court-appointed commissioners submitted an interim inspection report, supported by aerial photographs, showing that multiple hotels were already constructed on the hills surrounding the petitioner’s property.Justice Jain remarked that it was “shocking” that no advice was ever sought from Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change or the state departments concerned while framing the hill policies twice in the past.In one of the strongest observations in the order, the court said it was “deeply pained” to find that Udaipur—historically known for its lakes, hills (magri) and wildlife sanctuaries—has been reduced to a “pitiable state”, with hundreds of hotels and resorts mushrooming around lakes, sanctuaries, sensitive ecosystems and hill slopes in the name of sustainable development.The court observed that such policies ignored the constitutional obligation to protect natural resources under Public Trust Doctrine, even while balancing the rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.Justice Jain referred to an earlier PIL disposed of in 2023 after the state assured a division bench that it would implement Public Trust Doctrine and frame appropriate policies. Justice Jain observed that instead of fulfilling those assurances, the state produced a policy “devoid of application of mind, expertise or research and development”, allegedly prepared with the assistance of a private agency while bypassing environmental, wildlife, climate and pollution authorities.Considering the gravity of the revelations, the high court directed all competent authorities to appear personally on the next date of hearing with complete statistical data and original records. The court also ordered them to place on record details of all commercial and construction permissions granted in the vicinity of the petitioner’s property, identify the authors of the 2018 and 2024 hill policies, and produce the entire record relating to their formulation, including reports prepared by the private agency.Senior advocate MS Singhvi, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the hotel was being singled out despite several similarly situated hotels having been constructed in the vicinity, including on agricultural land, without requisite permissions. “Our project, which commenced in 2018, was in accordance with the earlier policy and the principle of sustainable development,” he added, and alleged that the authorities adopted a “pick and choose” approach amounting to hostile discrimination.The court recorded that Hill Policy, 2018, was allegedly drafted by private external agencies without consulting statutory authorities dealing with environment, climate change, wildlife and pollution control. The court will take up the matter again on Aug 6.
