New Delhi, Aug. 3 -- The Supreme Court has tightened its oversight of the protection of India's wetlands, directing the Centre, states and Union territories to physically verify and demarcate all wetlands identified in the Space Applications Centre (SAC) Atlas within two months, while warning that secretaries and other senior officials will be summoned to court if the exercise remains confined to paperwork. A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi made it clear that the statutory exercise of "ground-truthing" and boundary demarcation under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, cannot be completed merely on paper and must involve physical identification of the wetlands on the ground. "Ground truthing and demarcation of wetland boundary should not only be on paper but also to be physically carried out and identification of such wetlands or water bodies as identified by the SAC Atlas shall be undertaken by all the states if not already undertaken and a report be filed before this court expeditiously and at any rate within an outer limit of two months," the bench directed in an order passed on July 28 and released on Saturday. "This exercise of physical verification if not undertaken, the Secretaries of Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Vice Chairman of the respective State Wetland Authorities shall appear in person on the next date of hearing and show cause as to why further steps should not be taken by this court for non-compliance," the court said, adding that any breach of its present or previous directions would be viewed "very seriously". The latest order marks a significant escalation in litigation the top court has been monitoring since 2018 to ensure the identification, notification and protection of wetlands across the country. The proceedings arise from a batch of public interest litigations filed by Greater Noida-based birder and environmentalist Anand Arya, advocate MK Balakrishnan and NGO Vanashakti. The court recalled that as far back as December 11, 2024, it had directed every state and UT Wetland Authority to complete "ground-truthing" and boundary demarcation of all wetlands identified in the 2021 SAC Atlas within three months, describing it as a statutory obligation under the Wetlands Rules. Those directions were reiterated in subsequent orders dated August 19, October 7 and October 28, 2025. However, senior advocates Jayant Bhushan and Anitha Shenoy, appearing for the petitioners, informed the court that while several states claimed compliance, the exercise had largely remained a desk exercise. According to them, wetlands identified through satellite imagery had neither been physically inspected nor verified on site, defeating the very objective of ground-truthing before demarcation. Accepting the submission, the bench observed that despite its repeated orders, some states and their wetland authorities were attempting to take a position contrary to the court's directions. "When our order dated 11.12.2024 which has been reiterated on 19.08.2025, 07.10.2025 and 28.10.2025 is clear, we fail to understand as to how the states or its instrumentalities or the Wetland Authorities...can take a different view," the bench said before directing that both ground-truthing and demarcation should not only be on paper but also be physically carried out. The direction effectively gives all states and UTs a final two-month window to complete physical verification of every wetland or water body mapped in the SAC Atlas and place compliance reports before the court. The litigation concerns wetlands identified by the Space Applications Centre under ISRO's Wetland Atlas. Earlier proceedings revealed that the number of wetlands larger than 2.25 hectares had risen from 201,503 in earlier inventories to 231,195 in the 2021 SAC Atlas, making physical verification essential before legal protection could be extended. In August 2025, the court had expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of compliance after a status report filed by the Union government showed several states had made little progress in ground-truthing and boundary demarcation. Calling the progress "snail's pace", it had granted another two months while cautioning that environment secretaries of defaulting states would have to personally appear before the court if the exercise remained incomplete. It had also directed states to publish details of identified wetlands, completed ground-truthing and boundary demarcation on their official websites and asked the Centre to coordinate with states for expeditious issuance of wetland notifications. The court had further clarified in October 2025 that the process of ground-truthing and demarcation must strictly comply with Rule 7 of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 after concerns were raised that some authorities were carrying out demarcation before undertaking physical verification. Apart from strengthening compliance directions, the bench also reappointed advocate Shibani Ghosh as nodal counsel to coordinate pleadings among all parties, state governments and wetland authorities in view of the voluminous record generated in the long-pending proceedings. The bench also dealt with several intervention applications filed by Balakrishnan, who appeared in person seeking court directions for restoration of over 1,000 kunds in Vrindavan and a nationwide riverbank waste management project. While acknowledging that the causes sought to be espoused were "laudable" and "benevolent", the court refused to direct release of Rs.80 crore and Rs.1.038 lakh crore, respectively, to the intervener, observing that such work falls within the domain of statutory authorities and state governments. It, however, said the concerns raised regarding the protection of water bodies and river ecosystems would be kept in view while passing final orders in the main matter....