Holding

The Supreme Court held that the State's inability to keep the Balta route open year‑round was justified, and modified the High Court's order to require opening only during the Amarnath Yatra period as practicable and to continue improvements on the Pahalgam route.

Summary

The Supreme Court heard a public‑interest litigation filed against the State of Jammu and Kashmir concerning the conduct of the annual Amarnath Yatra. The Delhi High Court had directed the State to keep the Balta route permanently open, akin to the Vaishno Devi route, and to improve the traditional Pahalgam route. The State argued that year‑round opening of the Balta route was impossible due to severe weather, avalanches, and technical constraints, and offered to keep it open only during the 40‑day yatra period as far as practicable while continuing improvements on the Pahalgam route. After examining the State’s affidavit and expert opinions, the Court held that the State’s reasons were sound and that the High Court’s order should be modified. Accordingly, the State was directed to keep the Balta route open during the yatra period as feasible and to continue enhancements on the Pahalgam route, while the Court refrained from addressing other jurisdictional questions. The appeals were disposed of without any order as to costs.

Issues considered

Whether the Delhi High Court could validly direct the State of Jammu and Kashmir to keep the Balta route permanently open throughout the year.
Whether the Court could compel the State to make improvements to the Pahalgam route for the Amarnath Yatra.
Whether the Delhi High Court had jurisdiction to entertain the public‑interest petitions in the absence of clear judicially manageable standards.

Subjects

public interest litigationAmarnath YatraBalta routeVaishno Devi routepilgrimage infrastructurejudicial reviewstate obligationsjurisdictionenvironmental constraints

Judgment

A STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR Ji
v.
SWAMI SACHIDANAND S.C.S. PURNANAND
AND ORS. ETC.

FEBRUARY 22, 1999
B
(DR. AS. ANAND CJ., M. SRINIVASAN AND >-
N. SANTOSH HEGDE, JJ.] -~

Public interest litigation-Amamath Holy Cave-Pilgrimage to-Regula-
c tions made by State ofJammu and Kashmir-C/1al/e11ge to regulation~Direc-
tion by High Court to State of J & K to keep open the Balta! route 011 a
pem1a11e11t basis-Appeal prefemd by State of J & K-R.easons given by State
as to why it was not possible to keep Balta/ route open throughout the
year--State also giving undertaking to continue to make improvements on
D pahalgam route during the yatra-Held the stand taken by State Govt. was ,,
f air--Accordingly directions given by the High Court modified. ·
·•
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 1045 of
1996 Etc.

E From the Judgment and Order dated 6.11.97 of the Delhi High Court
in W.P. No. 2663 of 1997.

Ashok Mathur for the Appellant.

Ranbir Jain for the Respondents.
F ,.
The following Order of the Court was delivered : ....
Leave granted.

The Division Bench of the High Court in writ petitions filed in public
G interest by various persons and Organisations challenging the regulations
(
made by the appellant in the conduct of Amar Nath yatra to the Holy cave
inter-a/ia directed the appellant to keep open the Balta! route, on a . .., ....

permanent basis in a manner similar to Vaishno Devi route. Certain other ~

directions were also issued. The State has put in issue the Order of the
H Division Bench.
826
STATE v. SWAMI SACHIDANAND S.C.S. PURNANAND 827

). On 17th August 1998, the following Order was made by the Bench : A
Mr. Dipankar Gupta, learned senior counsel says that the State
would comprehensively examine the matter in the light of the
judgment of the High Court and respond as to what valuable
suggestions made by the High Court are acceptable to it and what
objections the State has towards others which are not accepted. B
~ Eight weeks' time for doing the needful is granted. List thereafter.
••
Subsequently, the supplementary affidavit was filed on behalf of State
of Jammu and Kashmir by Shri Sonam Dorjey. The relevant portion of the
affidavit reads thus :
c
2. ...... Without prejudice to the said contention I say that the
Petitioners are aggrieved by lnter~alia the following directions
issued by the Hon'ble High Court in its impugned order.

. (a) ...... it will be desirable and easy to maintain the Balta! route
as an open route as permanent and open as it has made the route
D
•· to Vaishno Devi open alld permanent route.

(b) As far as traditional route via Pehalgam is concerned, if
anything is required to be done tO make that route more comfort-
able to traverse, the State Government should carry out improve- E
ments in that route also. We expect that the State Government will
be able to provide clear hygienic routes not only through the
traditional route by Pahalgam, but also through the Baltal route.

3. I say that as regards direction (a) above,.it is submitted that the
~
Hon'ble High Court failed to appreciate that the.Amarnath Shrine F
~·
unlike the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine is nor visited throughout the
year. That the pilgrims visit this shrine orily during the Annual
Amarnath yatra (which lasts approx. 40 days in a. year). In the
circumstances, the State of Government undertakes that it shall
endeavour to keep Balta/ route open during the 40 days period of
G
yatra as far as practicable and weather and other physical conditions

....
~
permitting. This is more so because of the foil owing reasons
(Emphasis supplied)
'
(a) I say that this is more so taking into account the fact that on
the 15th cif November every year the road beyond Sonamarg is H
~

828 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1999] 1 S.C.R.

A , officially declared closed by project beacon, which is a unit of the ~
Border Roads Organisation, which in turn is under the Ministry
of Defence, Government of India. That in this regard it is relevant
to refer to the opinion received from their Engineer (P) Beecon
which states :

B (i) that the terrain and weather conditions in the Zojila area.
Unprecedented and heavy snowfall accumulation of 2-3 feet
overnight resulting in triggering of avalanche due to variation
in temperature during the day when the temperature goes
.. )

high. The avalanches further bring mass earth alongwith them
thus creating devastation as well closure of road. The route
c from Balta! to Amarnath and Amarnath to Pehalgam is all
under slide zones which are required to be stabilized and
opened fully for Amarnath Yatra in a brief period of 2-3
months i.e. end of June and end of August with heavy main-
tenance. However, during monsoon every year there are slides
D and even the small path of area get covered with snowfall. ,,,
(ii) the August accumulation of snow is between 6 to 7 ft. In Zojila •
area and much more in the Balta! towards Amarnath area
and in area between Chandanwari-Pehalgam in the minor
Himalayas, the temperature goes down below minus 30
E degree at night and even upto minus 15 degree during the
day. Tragedies which have been taking place every year in
Zojila have been reported in 1982, 1986, 1992, 1994, 1996 and
Amarnath in 1992 and 1997.

F (b) The bus service to Sonamarg is officially withdrawn around the
same time and buses ply only up to Gund in the winters, because
it is not physically possible for these vehicle to go beyond due to
...
:f

extremely dangerous and heavy avalanches at Ganagir gorge where
>
the snow depth some times exceeds 40 feet.

G
[
(c) Balta! is 10 kilometers away from the main Neel Grad road
and the track to the Holy Cave is an additional 13 Km. from Balta!.
. .,,
(d) It may be mentioned that a number of tragedies have occurred ~
on the Sonamarg road during winters due to heavy avalanches,
H resulting, in one instance in about 200 deaths a few years ago.
STATE v. SWAMI SACHIDANAND S.C.S. PURNANAND 829

(e) Opening the Balta! route before July has not been possible A
because of avalanches. This year, it was possible to keep the road
open for such a long period primarily because this has been a low
rainfall year with an unprecedented heat which melted snow early.

(f) The main sliding zone is in the Brarimarg areas at a higher B
altitude than the holy cave itself. During rains this area becomes
prone to shooting stdnc:s and landslides and is, therefore, extremely
hazardous to pilgrims during the rainy season.

(g) Snowfall is so high that leave alone Balta! or Sonamarg, even
the road beyond Gund gets closed around the month of December C
to March every year and even project Beacon, which comes under
the Ministry of Defence, Government of India has not been able
to clear this stretch which is a much lower altitude than baltal. As
far as Bararimarg is concerned, it is 5000-6000 feet higher than
Sonamarg project. Beacon is unable to keep Sonamarg road open, D
.. which has superior technical resources, available technic strength .

4. As regards the direction (b) it is stated that the State Govemment
shall continue to make improvements on the Pahalgam route to the
Holy Amamath Cave and will continue its effort of provide clear
hygienic routes to the Holy Amamath Cave through Pahalgam during E
the 40 days Amamath Yatra. (Emphasis ours)

5. I further submit that the State Government is, however, ag-
grieved by the direction to keep the said two routes open
throughout the year. In this regard, I submit that the State Govern- F
...
, ment is spending substantial sums on the Amarnath Yatra every
year, including on the infrastructure. This sum in certain years has
reached figures as high as Rs. 6 crore, as in 1997-98 and in any
case is rarely less than Rs. 2 crore which is a very substantial share
of the total tourism budget (1998 - Rs. 21 crore and Rs. 16 crore
1997). Further any development of the infrastructure would require G
at least one year and the services of a top-class consultant to
prepare estimates. Work on the project can only start around early
July 1999. Even this project report will be based on merely one
working season. In the circumstances, it is submitted that it is not
possible even with the technical aids to keep Baltal route open H
830 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1999] 1 S.C.R.
A throughout the year, considering the nature of the terrain and
weather conditions.

After giving this matter our careful consideration, we are of the
opinion that the stand taken by the State Govern~ent contained in para-
graphs 3, 4 and 5 of the above affidavit, for the reasons recorded therein,is
B fair, The reasons furnished by the State Government are sound relevant
and bear scrutiny. Those reasons appeal to us. Accepting those reasons,
the impugned order deserves to be modified. ,
)-
.
We accept the undertaking of the appellant as contained in para-
graphs 3 to 5 of the supplementary affidavit reproduced above. The direc-
C tions given in the judgment of the High Court shall stand modified to the
extent and in the manner indicated in paragraphs 3 to 5 of the supplemen-
tary affidavit (supra).

In the view that we have taken, we refrain from dealing with the other
D questions in the matter including the question whether the subject debated
in the 'writ petitions filed in public interest was at all capable of directions ~
in the absence of any judicially manageable standards as well as about the .,
territorial jurisdiction of the Delhi High Court to deal with case.

All the appeals shall stand disposed of in · the above terms, but
E without any order as to costs.
T.N.A. Appeals disposed of.

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