For almost two years now, Chief Justice Mr. Abhay Oka of the High Court of Karnataka has systematically developed jurisprudence to protect lakes as our commons, and for posterity. This is being achieved by his orders in a PIL filed by Citizens Action Group (CAG) PIL (WP 38401/2014). The jurisprudence reaffirms a schema for protecting and rehabilitating lakes based on their ground up monitoring, and for their rehabilitation through public involvement while ensuring regulatory oversight is transparent and accountable.