Kochi | The Kerala High Court has stressed the need for a unified authority to monitor the cleanliness of the Periyar river, saying that lives of millions are at stake and all stakeholders, including the state government, need to behave responsibly and discharge their obligations.

A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M noted that in view of the importance of the Periyar river in the state, the need for a unified authority to monitor it "does not require any further emphasis".

The court said that the government had earlier suggested the creation of an Integrated River Basin Conservation and Management Plan back in September, 2025.

"The lives of millions are at stake and we should not wait for doomsday to arrive. We expect all the stakeholders to behave responsibly and discharge their obligations in order to ensure that all preventive and remedial measures are taken to save the Periyar river," the bench said.

The observation came while hearing a plea to curb the pollution of Periyar river by preventing dumping of effluents into it from industries and the Aluva Market.

The petitioner, K S R Menon, told the court that there was an urgent need to have a unified authority to monitor the purity of the river as no such body was in existence currently.

The bench also directed the Kerala State Pollution Control Board to give a revised time schedule for setting up a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), to curb pollution of the river, and to strictly follow the same as such a system was "essential for protection of bio-diversity and the flora and fauna" connected with the waterbody.

It issued the direction after the Board told the court that the earlier timeline given by it could not be followed due to the state assembly polls.