Srinagar, April 29 -- A Supreme Court judgment rarely reads like an indictment of an entire regulatory culture. The court's ruling in the Shaliganga mining case came close.

Last August, the Supreme Court upheld the National Green Tribunal's decision to halt riverbed mining in Budgam's Shaliganga stream. The bench of Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Atul S. Chandurkar delivered a clear message to the Jammu and Kashmir government, its environmental authorities and the construction firms that benefited from official approvals. Mining without scientific replenishment studies violates the law and damages rivers in ways that future generations will struggle to repair.

That finding matters far beyond one stream in Budgam.

Shaliganga exposed...