ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Course Code:SLL 2709 Crédit: 04

Course Objective:
The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of jurisprudential, substantive and
procedural aspects of environmental law and related policies practiced at municipal as well as
international levels.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, the students will be able to:

• Define what constitutes environment for the purpose of legal regulation

• Determine the position of environmental laws in Indian constitutional and criminal law
regime.
• Compare environmental law practices in different legal systems and critically analyse the
prevailing practices in India
• Apply the knowledge of legal provisions to hypothetical fact and analyze them to draw
conclusions
• Appraise the impact of international arrangements pertaining to environment and climate
change on Indian laws

Scheme: This course is comprised of about 34 Units of one-hour duration divided into four
modules with 8-10 units in each module.

UNIT I: Environment Law: Origin and Principles [4 Lectures]

a) Environment: Meaning and Constituents

b) Environmental Degradation: Human Induced vs. Natural
c) Principles governing environment law and policies in various legal systems
- Precautionary
- Polluter’s Pay
- Intragenerational Equity and Intergenerational Equity
- Sustainable Development
- Participatory environmental decision making
- Public Trust Doctrine and Common Heritage principle

Case Laws
 1. Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action v. Union of India, AIR 1996 SC 14 (Bichhri
Village case)
2. Vellore Citizens’ Welfare Forum v. Union of India, AIR 1996 SC 2715
3. A.P. Pollution Control Board v. M.V. Nayudu, AIR 1999 SC 812
4. Narmada BachaoAndolan v. Union of India, AIR 2000 SC 3751
5. Goa Foundation, Goa v. Diksha Holdings Pvt. Ltd., AIR 2001 SC 184 56
6. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 2002 SC 1696 (CNG Vehicles case)
7. T.N. GodavarmanThirumulkpad v. Union of India, AIR 2005 SC 4256

UNIT II: Indian Legal Regime for Environmental Protection [12 Lectures]

Indian Constitution
- Human Right to Healthy Environment; Fundamental Rights - Right to Wholesome
Environment –
- Article 14 (Right to equality, non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory treatment),
- Article 19(1)(g) (Freedom to carry on trade or business),
- Article 21 (Right to life, livelihood and wholesome environment), Expanding horizon of
Article 21
- Article 32 (Right to Constitutional remedies);
- Directive Principles of State Policy – Article 47, 48-A; Fundamental Duty – Article 51-
A(g);
- Public Interest Litigation - Nature – Non-Adversarial, Collaborative, Co-operative and
Investigative;
- Locus Standi - Pro Bono Publico; Representative Standing; Citizens’ Standing

Case Laws
1. Subash Kumar v. State of Bihar, AIR 1991 SC 420
2. T.N. GodavarmanThirumulkpad v. Union of India, AIR 2006 SC 177
3. Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra v. State of U.P., AIR 1982 SC 652 (Dehradun-
Mussorie Hills quarrying case)
4. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 1997 SC 734 (Taj Trapezium case)
5. M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath (1997) 1 SCC 388
6. M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, AIR 2000 SC 1997
7. M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, 2002 (2) SCALE 654
8. M/s. Abhilash Textiles v. Rajkot Municipal Corpn., AIR 1988 Guj. 57 150
9. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, (2006) 3 SCC 399 (Closure of industries in Delhi)
10. Forum, Prevention of Environment & Sound Pollution v. Union of India, AIR 2006 SC
348

UNIT III: Environment Legislations in India

Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
a) Meaning of Environment, Environment Pollutant and Environment Pollution; Powers and
Functions of Central Government; Citizen Suit Provision
1. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India AIR 2002 SC 169
2. Bihar State Pollution Control Board v. Hiranand Stone Works AIR 2005 Patna 62
3. Srijan Ek Aasha v. State of M.P.; Original Application No. 02/2014 (THC) (CZ)

b) Laws related to Water and Air Pollution

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974:
- Definition of Water Pollution; Central and State Pollution Control Boards,
- Water Pollution Control Areas,
- Sample of effluents,
- Consent requirement,
- Citizen Suit Provision

c) Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981:

- Definition of Air Pollution
- Central and State Pollution Control Boards
- Air Pollution Control Areas
- Consent Requirement
- Sample of effluents
- Citizen Suit Provision

d) National Green Tribunal Act, 2010

-Objective
-Jurisdiction
-Principles
UNIT IV: Environment Protection in the
International Context (INTERNATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW)

a) Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Nature and

objective
b) International Environment Law: Journey from Stockholm to
Rio
- Stockholm Declaration of 1972
- World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987
- Basel Convention 1989: Convention on Control of Trans
boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal

- Rio-Declaration, 1992
- Earth Summit, 1997
- Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, 2002
- Millennium Development Goals
- Sustainable Development Goals
c) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Kyoto Protocol
- CoP Summits

Suggested Readings:
Statutes
1. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
2. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
3. The Indian Forest Act, 1927
4. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
5. The Wild Life Protection Act, 1972
6. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
7. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991
8. The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995
9. The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997
10. National Green Tribunal Act, 2010

Texts

1. Armin Rosencranz and ShyamDiwan, Environmental Law and Policy in India, Oxford
University Press
2. Sahasranaman, P.B., Environmantal Law, Oxford University Press
3. Leela Krishnan, P, The Environmental Law in India, Butterworths, India
4. Leela Krishnan, Petal, Law and Environment, Eastern Law Agency, Lucknow
5. Jaswal, P.S, Environmental Law, Allahabad Law Agency
6. Patricia Birnie and Alan Boyle, International Law and the Environment, Oxford University
Press
7. Stuart Bell and Donald McGillivray, Environmental Law, Oxford University Press

Handbooks

1. United Nations Handbook on International Environmental Law

2. Judicial handbook on Environment Law, United Nations Environment Programme
3. Dutta Ritwick, Handbook on public participation, 2010

Pedagogy:
The application of specific pedagogy is motivated from the fact that strong foundations need to
be developed. However, it is to be kept in mind that implied understanding also needs to be
developed on current issues relating to legal scenario in India. Pedagogy for the module has to
take care of two things. Firstly, a constant interaction among students and tutor is required,
involving students in active and participative manner. Secondly, an instructive strategy is
required to understand implications emphasising learning by doing. Thus, in this module
following pedagogical approaches are adopted:

• Student Lecture and Presentation: To support the development of theoretical construct.

• Case study Method: Better understanding of the case structure and practical aspects of
law and procedure.
• Moot Courts enable the students to practically implement the knowledge acquired by
them.
• Reading and discussion session among students to inculcate the self actualised
learning process.
Internal Evaluation: (Out of 40 Marks)

FA-I(Online Course/Moot Proposition/Case Presentation/Article Review): 10 Marks.

FA-II: Viva Assessment- 10 Marks.
Mid-semester: 20 Marks