Paper: GS-III, Subject: Environment, Topic: Broad/Overlap, Issue: Supreme Court and India’s Environmental Jurisprudence
Context
Recently, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan highlighted the Supreme Court’s environmental role and inconsistency in infrastructure cases. He stressed that development and ecology are complementary.
Explanation
Evolution of environmental law
- The Bhopal disaster revealed the limits of liability rules for hazardous industries.
- The Oleum Gas Leak case evolved absolute liability for harm caused by hazardous enterprises, without traditional exceptions.
- The polluter pays principle requires polluters to bear compensation, clean-up and restoration costs.
Major principles
- In Vellore Citizens’ Welfare Forum v. Union of India, the Court recognised precautionary and polluter pays principles as features of sustainable development.
- The precautionary principle demands action against credible environmental threats even without complete scientific certainty.
- Sustainable development permits economic progress while requiring ecological safeguards and responsible resource use.
- In the Span Motel case, M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, the Court applied the public trust doctrine to protect resources.
- Intergenerational equity requires the present generation to preserve resources for future generations.
Major concerns
- Case-based decisions remain inconsistent when balancing environmental protection against mining, dams and infrastructure.
- Courts lack enforcement machinery, causing weak compliance with pollution-control orders and delays.
- Judicial overreach may disturb the separation of powers, making courts function like a “super-legislature” or “super-executive” in technical policy matters.
Way forward
- India should strengthen the National Green Tribunal, pollution boards, scientific expertise and monitoring of judicial directions.
- Parliament should codify major doctrines and clarify institutional roles, promoting consistency without replacing legitimate executive choices.
Conclusion
The Supreme Court has filled environmental governance gaps. Lasting progress requires consistent jurisprudence, stronger institutions and effective enforcement, ensuring that development remains lawful and ecologically sustainable.
Source: (The Indian Express)
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