Court case(1997) 1 SCC 388

An Indian Express report of February 1996 stated that Span Motels Pvt. Ltd, a company with which the family of Kamal Nath, a former Union Minister for Environment and Forests, was connected, had built a motel on the bank of the river Beas in the Kullu-Manali valley of Himachal Pradesh. The motel had obtained a lease from the State of adjoining protected forest land and, to protect its property from floods, had used bulldozers and earth-movers to alter and divert the course of the river, threatening the ecology of the valley and causing floods elsewhere. The Supreme Court took notice of the report and issued notice to the motel, the State and the authorities.

Kuldip Singh J. held that the public trust doctrine is part of the law of India. The State is the trustee of all natural resources meant for public use and enjoyment, such as rivers, seashores, forests and the air; the public is the beneficiary, and the State is under a legal duty to protect them and cannot permit their use for private ownership or commercial purposes in a manner that destroys their natural character. The State of Himachal Pradesh had committed a breach of the public trust by leasing ecologically fragile land to the motel. The lease was quashed and the State was directed to take back the land; the motel was directed to pay compensation, by way of the cost of restitution of the environment and ecology of the area, under the polluter-pays principle, and to show cause why a pollution fine should not be imposed. Construction on the river bank and the riverbed was restrained.