India, May 27 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday said environmental governance cannot be reduced to a "reactive exercise" undertaken only after repeated judicial intervention or upon threat of personal accountability before constitutional courts.

The observations came from a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, which passed a slew of directions for effective implementation of environmental and statutory safeguards in the regions affected by rampant illegal sand mining within and around the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary.

The apex court said constitutional obligations cast a continuing duty upon the State and its instrumentalities to anticipate environmental harm, prevent ecological degradation and ensure preservation of fra...