Hello good morning one and all.

Today me
and friends will be presenting a
powerpoint presentation on a very famous
case of the environmental background THE
TAJ TRAPEZIUM CASE. Equivalent citations:
1987 AIR 1086, 1987 SCR (1) 819

The judgements were ruled by  Kuldip

Singh, Faizan Uddin

Date of Judgement:  30th December 1996

Petitioner:  M.C. MEHTA

Respondent: UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Who is M.C. MEHETA

M.C. Mehta single-handedly won numerous landmark

judgments from India’s Supreme Court since 1984,
including introducing lead-free gasoline to India and
reducing the industrial pollution fouling the Ganges and
eroding the Taj Mahal.

Mehta learned that the Ganges River, considered to be

the holiest river in India and used by millions of people
every day for bathing and drinking water, caught fire due
to industrial effluents in the river. Once again, Mehta
filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the
polluting factories, and the scope of the case was
broadened to include all the industries and municipalities
in the river basin.
INTRODUCTION The Taj Mahal, situated admirably on the
banks of River Yamuna. It is one of the wonders of the world
and is regarded as one of the most invaluable national
monuments, of unique. It is constructed wholly of white
marble and was proclaimed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
in 1983. However, the Taj is exposed to corrosion and
damage by rapidly moving social and economic environment
which worsen the situation. It has developed a yellowish
shade due to the increased levels of pollution and fumes
around the area. The key contaminant was Sulphur dioxide
discharged by the industries which in future reacted with rain
water to give acid rain. The Taj, a monument of international
reputation, is on its way to dreadful conditions due to
climatic contamination

OVER TO ESHA

BACKGROUND
The 10,400 sq km Taj Trapezium Zone 
(TTZ) spans cross the UP’s Agra,
Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah
districts and Bharatpur district of
Rajasthan. It was set up for the
protection of Taj Mahal from
environmental pollution. Apart from Taj
Mahal, this zone houses Agra Fort and
Fatehpur Sikri.  It banned the use of
coal/ coke in industries located in the
TTZ with a mandate for switching over
from coal/ coke to natural gas, and
relocating them outside the TTZ or
shutting down. TTZ is so named since it
is located around the Taj Mahal and is
shaped like a trapezoid. The SC recently
permitted felling of around 4,000 trees
in TTZ for laying rail track between
Mathura and Jhansi.
Over to Harshita who will be explaining
the sources of air pollution which has
lead harm to our taj mahal.

SOURCES OF AIR POLLUTION

Pollution refers to the additional
element in the environment that has a
harmful or poisonous effect. Any form of
pollution whose source can be traced to
industrial activities is called
industrial pollution.
CAUSES:
 Unplanned Industrial growth with no
proper implementation to control the
pollution.
 Use of outdated Technology hence are
less eco friendly.
 Use of water of industrial processes.
 Poor implementation of policies and
law.
 Absence of Nation-wide pollution tax.
 Industrial Air Pollution:
 The air pollution from the
industries is mainly due to fuel
used. Many petha industries operate
in Agra which mainly use coal as
fuel.The main pollutants are
Sulphur dioxide, SPM, and carbon
monoxide.The majority of the
industries present in Agra
comprises of foundaries. In
foundaries the main principle
source of emission in cupola. The
volume gas which is exhausted and
its concentration depends on the
cupola operations, melting rates,
feature of charging material and
the coke. Gases escape while
drawing the hot metal and during
casting which is the main factor of
industrial air pollution in this
area.

 Vehicular Air pollution:

The vehicular air pollution is
one of the major sources of air
pollution affecting the urban
population in Agra.The vehicular
pollutants are released on the
ground level and hence its
impacts are tremendous. The
 impact on recipient population
due to ground emission is more.
The vehicular growth in the city
is high and with this amount of
growth the result of pollution in
Agra is hence more.
 Diesel Generators set:
Due to power break DG sets are used
almost in a daily basis and they
create noise pollution. They are
large generators which consume
diesel according to its capacity
and create environmental
pollutions. The fuel consumed by
the DG sets by different sectors
and the average consumption of
diesel differs as per the capacity
of the generators which help to
restraint the power back due to a
lack of power shortage in this
area.
OVER TO LUTSA

FACTS
MC Mehta had filed a petition because of
the threat that was coming towards the
beauty of the Taj Mahal to appeal the Air
Act, 1981 and Water Act, 1974 and
Environmental Protection Act, 1986. The
objective was to stop the discharge by
coal using industrial units which have
determined effect on the Taj Mahal. The
petitioner said that the chemical
industries at Mathura were the main
sources to harm. When the sulphur dioxide
was mixed with oxygen and moisture, it
formed the acid rain which had an
oxidising effect on the gleaming white
marble. The supreme court inspected
various types of reports. ‘Report on
Environmental Impact of Mathura Refinery'
issued in 1978 was the report by The
Varadharajan Committee. The report said
that the sources of pollution in the Agra
region were all coal operators. The
National Environment Engineering Research
Institute gave an 'Overview Report' in
1990 realising that there was high effect
on the quality of air because of the
Agra-Mathura region causing acidic
discharges at a disturbing speed.

(a) ISSUES PERTAINING TO THE CASE

(b) Sustainable development: The

objective behind this litigation is to
stop the pollution while encouraging
development of industry. The
 development of industry is essential
for the economy of the country, but at
the same time the environment and the
eco- systems have to be protected.

(c) (b) (b) Precautionary Principle: The

pollution created as a consequence of
development must support the carrying
capacity of our eco-systems. Thus its
better to caution rather to wait for
the harm to take place in other words
the State must Anticipate. Prevent and
Attack the harm caused to the
environment.

(c) Polluter Pays: principle “Once the

activity carried on is hazardous or
inherently dangerous, the person
carrying on such activity is liable to
make good the loss caused to any other
person irrespective of the fact whether
he took reasonable care or not.
Consequently the polluting industries
are “absolutely liable to compensate
for the harm caused by them to
villagers in the affected area, to the
soil and to the underground water and
hence, they are bound to take all
necessary measures to remove sludge and
other pollutants lying in the affected
areas”
JUDGEMENT

The judgment became a landmark

judgement for environmental law
jurisprudence in India.Taj was moving
towards its ruination and was in a
state to be dismantled but such
collapse was acknowledged proficiently
by the court. There was a notable
decrement in the Suspended Particulate
Matter (SPM) as the court had called
off all the industrial expansion and as
reported by the higher authorities
which was one of the main pollutants
responsible for the discolouration of
Taj Mahal. The Supreme Court bench of
Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice
Deepak Gupta, reflects a stern
viewpoint of the Indian judiciary
towards protection of archaeological
monuments and reducing air pollution in
the country. Court further stated that
292 industries shall change the natural
gas as an industrial fuel. It also
stated that the phase between the
closure of industries in agra and its
reboot at the place of relocation shall
be treated as active employment and
people shall be reimbursed.

CONCLUSION

In this landmark judgement, the Supreme

Court embraced the cause of protection
of national heritages such as the Taj
Mahal from deterioration and damages
due to atmospheric and environmental
pollution. The industries emission
contributed in the yellowing of the
marble. The case was for protecting the
deterioration of the national heritage
due to the industrial pollution. The
judgement passed on this case was based
on the Precautionary Principle and
Polluter Pays Principle making them the
environmental jurisprudence of the
country. This judgement turned into a
milestone for environmental law statute
in India. The judicial activism
practised by the Supreme Court in this
case for the protection of environment,
proves the increasing need and
importance of environmental litigation
in India.

PERSONAL REVIEWS The 1996 judgement of

the Supreme Court was one of the most
important judgement. This judgement was
passes because there was no positive
response from the government regarding
the shifting industries. Base on the
documents, we all know that pollution
needs to be eradicated at the soonest.
The court has also used the principle
of sustainable development which offers
the industries of Agra to closed go
down operations. So basically Supreme
Court did take a good step to help our
environmental situation. -LUTSA GHOSH

The order passed which with this

judgement only covered on a few that is
292 industries out of the 510 .There
names were presented by the pollution
control board to the court. However,
the rest of the industries also caused
the pollution in some ways which
resulted in the yellowing of the
marble, but the court did not reflect
all the ways and repositioned only
those industries which refused to
accept natural gas as a substitute
fuel. Nonetheless, the judgment turned
into a milestone for environmental law
statute in India. This judgment is an
admirable move of the Supreme Court
since the court has requested for
successful counter measures as well as
kept the rights and advantages of
representatives/labourers working in
the industries, making sure that they
are secure. -ESHA SARKAR

The Taj Mahal is one of the priceless

national monument of surpassing beauty
and worth, but it is now threatened
with deterioration of industrial causes
as well as changing social and cultural
cause which exacerbate the situation. •
Based on the judgement the Supreme
Court came to the findings that the
emission generated by coke consuming
industries were air pollutants and had
damaging effects on not only the Taj
Mahal but also to the people near that
area. • It is a commendable move of the
Supreme Court since the court not only
ordered the countermeasures but also
kept the rights of the employees in the
industrial core secure. -SWASTIKA RANA

The court had ordered only those

industries would be relocated who
disapprove to use natural gas as an
alternate fuel or to them it is not
accessible easily. In my opinion, all
industries should have been relocated
because in some way or the other, even
natural gas would cause pollution, its
use can only lessen pollution but not
annihilate it. -HARSHITA KAUL