Introduction

The term environment has been derived from a French word

“Environia” means to surround. It refers to both abiotic (physical
or non-living) and biotic (living) environment. The word
environment means surroundings, in which organisms live.
Environment and the organisms are two dynamic and complex
component of nature. Environment regulates the life of the
organisms including human beings. Human beings interact with
the environment more vigorously than other living beings.
Ordinarily environment refers to the materials and forces that
surrounds the living organism.

Environment is the sum total of conditions that surrounds us at

a given point of time and space. It is comprised of the interacting
systems of physical, biological and cultural elements which are
interlinked both individually and collectively. Environment is the
sum total of conditions in which an organism has to survive or
maintain its life process. It influences the growth and
development of living forms.

In other words environment refers to those surroundings that

surrounds living beings from all sides and affect their lives in
toto. It consists of atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and
biosphere. It’s chief components are soil, water, air, organisms
and solar energy. It has provided us all the resources for leading
a comfortable life.

1. According to P. Gisbert “Environment is anything immediately

surrounding an object and exerting a direct influence on it.”
2. According to E. J. Ross “Environment is an external force
which influences us.”

Thus, environment refers to anything that is immediately

surrounding an object and exerting a direct influence on it. Our
environment refers to those thing or agencies which though
distinct from us, affect our life or activity. The environment by
which man is surrounded and affected by factors which may be
natural, artificial, social, biological and psychological.

Concept of Environment

India had an ancient tradition of paying constant attention to

protection of the environment. There are writings galore, to show
that in ancient India every individual had to practice the
dharmato protect and worship nature. In India the devices and
rules for protecting the environment are discernible from ancient
times.

Environmentalism is not a fixed concept, but is always evolving

influenced by its context. This also applies to Indian
environmentalism, which has developed and changed throughout
the years. There is a rapid evolution in the Indian legislations
after independence as the need and concern regarding
environment arose. From ancient environmental rules including
Buddhism and Jainism to medieval and then from British era to
afterwards and the coming of modern legislations on
environmental laws in India, a great sense of concern has been
shown by the legislature and even the Indian judiciary showed a
great concern regarding the environment with its landmark
judgments.

Components of Environment:
Environment mainly consists of atmosphere, hydrosphere,
lithosphere and biosphere. But it can be roughly divided into two
types such as (a) Micro environment and (b) Macro environment.
It can also be divided into two other types such as (c) Physical
and (d) biotic environment.

(a) Micro environment refers to the immediate local surrounding

of the organism.

(b) Macro environment refers to all the physical and biotic

conditions that surround the organism externally.

(c) Physical environment refers to all abiotic factors or conditions

like temperature, light, rainfall, soil, minerals etc. It comprises of
atmosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere.

(d) Biotic environment includes all biotic factors or living forms

like plants, animals, Micro-organisms.

Provision of Environmental Law In India

Apart from international laws, every country has enacted laws
regarding environment protection, pollution control etc. In India,
there are several acts for environment protection that says
protection of environment is the duty of government.

Policy and Laws in Medieval India (1638-1800 AD)

To Mughal rulers, forest meant no more than woodlands where
they could hunt. The history of medieval India is dominated by
Muslim Rulers where no note worthy development of
environmental jurisprudence took place except during the rule of
Mughal Emperor Akbar. During Akbar’s rule except rulers others
are prohibited from hunting or shikar. But no major initiatives
took place during medieval period to prevent environmental
protection and conservation of natural resources as the rulers
were only interested in war, religion propagation and empire
building. Barring “royal trees” which enjoyed patronage from
being cut except upon a fee, there was no restriction on cutting of
other trees, hunting animals, etc. Forests during this period
shrank steadily in size.

Laws in British India (1800-1947 AD)

• Shore Nuisance (Bombay and Kolaba) Act, 1853 imposed
restrictions on the fouling of seawater.
• Merchant Shipping Act of 1858 dealt with prevention of sea
pollution by oil.
• The Fisheries Act, 1897
• The Bengal Smoke Nuisance Act of 1905
• Bombay Smoke Nuisance Act of 1912
• Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act, 1912

Laws after Independence (1947)

The Indian Constitution, as adopted in 1950, did not deal with
that the subject of environment or prevention and control of
pollution as such (until 1976 Amendment). The post independent
Indian approach was centered on economic development and
poverty alleviation and not on resource conservation.

The year 1972 was a landmark in the field of environment, when

United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held
at Stockholm (Sweden) from 5th to 16th June, in which
"Declaration on the Human Environment" was adopted. This may
be considered as the beginning of environment movement in the
world.

The Stockholm Declaration of 1972 was perhaps the first major

attempt to conserve and protect the human environment at the
international level. The preamble of it states, 'the need for a
common outlook and for common principles to inspire and guide
the peoples of the world in the preservation and enhancement of
the human environment.

As a consequence of this Declaration, the States were required to

adopt legislative measures to protect and improve the
environment. Accordingly, Indian Parliament inserted two
Articles, i.e., 48A and 51A in the Constitution of India in 1976.

In India a separate ministry namely The Department of

Environment was established in 1980 to ensure a healthy
environment for the country.

The main acts for environment protection in India are as

follows:-
1. The Forest Conservation Act, 1980
2. The Prevention of Air and Water Pollution, 1974, 1981 (The
Central Pollution Control Board) (CPCB) was constituted under
this act.

3. The Air Prevention and Control of Pollution, 1981.

4. The Atomic Energy Act. 1982.
5. The Environmental Protection Act, 1986. (It came into force
soon after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy)
6. The Environmental Conservation Act. 1989.
7. The National Environmental Tribunal, 1995.
8. National Environmental Appellate Authority Act, 1997.
9. National Environment Management Act (NEMA), 1998
10. Handling and Management of Hazardous Waste Rule in 1989.
11. The Public Liability Insurance Act (Rules and Amendment),
1992.
12. The Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rules,
1998.
13. The Environment (Siting for Industrial Projects) Rules, 1999.
14. The Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling)
Rules, 2000.
15. The Ozone Depleting Substance (Regulation and Control)
Rules, 2000.

16. The Biological Diversity Act 2002.

Environment And The Indian Constitution

The Indian Constitution is among the few in the world that
contains specific provisions on environmental protection.
Laws made by national, provincial and local government add to
the rights and responsibilities that are part of the constitution
and the common law. These laws also called legislations must
comply with the constitution but they can amend change the
common hand.

Protection of Life and Personal Liberty is embodied in Article 21.

It states, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal
liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
The Indian Constitution guarantees the ‘right to equality’ to all
persons without any discrimination. This indicates that any
action of the ‘State’ relating to environment must not infringe
upon the right to equality as mentioned in the Article 14 of the
Constitution. The Stockholm Declaration, 1972, also recognized
this principle of equality in environmental management and it
called up all the worlds’ nations to abide by this principle.
In the Constitution of India it is clearly stated that it is the duty
of the state to ‘protect and improve the environment and to
safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country’. It imposes a
duty on every citizen ‘to protect and improve the natural
environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife.

Let us further examine the provisions in the Indian Constitution

for the protection of environment. The 42nd amendment to the
constitution was brought about in the year 1974 makes it the
responsibility of the state government to protect and improve the
environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the
country. The latter, under fundamental duties, makes it the
fundamental duty of every citizen to protect and improve the
natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife
and to have compassion for living creatures.
The Art 47 provides that “It is the duty of the state, to raise the
level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public
health, the state shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the
consumption except for medicinal purposes intoxicating drinks
and of drugs which are injurious to health. Art. 48A provides that
the state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment
and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.”

Art. 51A, included in the Constitution by the 42nd amendment

Act, 1976 has the provisions as fundamental duties, says that “It
shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve
the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild
life, and to have compassion for living creatures and to develop
the scientific temper, humanism and the other spirit of inquiry
and reform, and to safeguard public property and to abjure
violence.”

One of the most innovative parts of the Constitution is that the

Writ Jurisdiction is conferred on the Supreme Court under
Article 32 and on all the High Courts under Article 226. Under
these provisions, the courts have the power to issue any direction
or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus,
mandamus, prohibition, quo- warranto and certiorari, whichever
is appropriate. This has paved way for one of the most effective
and dynamic mechanisms for the protection of environment, that
is, Public Interest Litigations.
Role of Panchayat and Municipalities
The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act 1992 and the
Constitution (Seventy –fourth Amendment) Act 1992 have given a
Constitutional status to the panchayats and the Municipalities
respectively. Article 243-B provides or the establishment of
intermediate and district levels. Article 243-G authorises the
legislature of State to endow the Panchayats with such powers
and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as
institution of self-government.

The Eleventh Schedule along with other matters contains

following maters which are directly or indirectly related to
environment like, agriculture, soil conservation, water
management and watershed development; fisheries; social
forestry and farm forestry; minor forest produce; drinking water;
health and sanitation; and maintenance of community assets.

The matters which are related to environment in the twelfth

Schedule may be enumerated as follows:
Urban planning including town planning regulation of land use
water supply; public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid
waste management, urban forestry, protection of the environment
and promotion of ecological aspects; provision of urban amenities
such as park grounds ; cremation grounds and electric
crematoriums; prevention of cruelty to animals regulation
slaughter houses and tanneries.

Judicial Contribution
The right of a person to pollution free environment is a part of
basic jurisprudence of the land. Article 21 of the Constitution of
India guarantees a fundamental right to life and personal liberty.
The Supreme Court has interpreted the right to life and personal
liberty to include the right to wholesome environment. The Court
through its various judgements has held that the mandate of
right to life includes right to clean environment, drinking-water
and pollution-free atmosphere.

It was Mr. M.C Mehta who revived the concept of environmental

jurisprudence in India through PIL. Others too had their silent
but noteworthy roles to play. Some of the landmark judgements
having fair share in development of the environmental
jurisprudence in India are:-

Narmada Bachao v. Union of India

Way back in 1946, the then government of the Central Provinces
and Berar and the then government of Bombay requested the
Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission to take
up investigation on the Narmada river system for basin wise
development oftheriverwithfloodcontrol, irrigation, power and
extension of Navigation as the objectives in view. The matter was
referred to a tribunal in 1968 constituted under the Inter-State
Water Disputes Act, 1956. Based on the agreement between the
Chief Ministers of 4 States [M.P, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and
Gujarat] the tribunal declared is award on 16thAugust 1978. In
order to meet the financial obligation, consultations started in
1978 with the World Bank for obtaining a loan. In May 1985 the
loan was sanctioned, and in 1987 the Ministry of Environment
and Forest accorded Environmental Clearance subject to certain
conditions.
The Supreme Court observed that the Sardar Sarovar Project
would make a positive impact on the preservation of
environment. The project has been long awaited by the people of
Gujarat to whom water will be available to the drought prone and
arid parts, this would help in effectively arresting ecological
degradation which was returning the make these areas
inhabitable due to salinity ingress, advancement of desert,
ground water depletion, fluoride and nitrite affected water and
vanishing green cover. The ecology of water scarcity areas is
under stress and transfer of Narmada water to these areas will
lead to sustainable agriculture and spread of green cover.

There will also be improvement of fodder availability, which will

reduce pressure on bio-diversity and vegetation. The SSP by
generating clean eco-friendly hydropower will save the air
pollution which would otherwise take place by thermal general
power of similar capacity. Following the above analysis the Court
thought it unfit to interfere with the construction of the dam, as
its advantages over took its disadvantages. The construction of
the dam was allowed subject to certain conditions. Such
interpretations of Article 21 by the Supreme Court have over the
years become the basis of environmental jurisprudence, and have
been instrumental in helping in the name of protection of India’s
environment. Also in addition to this there now exists a number
of laws relating to environment, enacted over the last few
decades.

Taj Mahal Case

In Taj Mahal's case[15], the Supreme Court issued directions that
coal and coke based industries in Taj Trapezium (TTZ) which
were damaging Taj should either change over to natural gas or to
be relocated outside TTZ. The court was conscious that
environmental changes are the inevitable consequences of
industrial development in our country, but at the same time the
quality of environment cannot be permitted to be damaged by
polluting the air, water and land to such an extent that it
becomes a health hazard for the residents of the area. Showing
deep concern to the environment, the Court observed that ‘every
citizen has a right to fresh air and to live in pollution- free
environment.

Again the Supreme Court directed to protect the plants planted

around Taj by the Forest Department as under
“The Divisional Forest Officer, Agra is directed to take immediate
steps for seeing that water is supplied to the plants... The Union
Government is directed to release the funds immediately without
waiting for receipt of the proposal from the U.P. Government on
the basis of the copy of the report. Funding may be subsequently
settled with the U.P. Government, but in any set of
circumstances for want of funds the officer is directed to see that
plants do not wither away.”

The apex Court gave various directions including banning the use
of coal and coke and directing the industries to switch over to
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

Ganga Pollution Case:

The Supreme Court of India reacting to the public interest
litigations has passed several judgments and a number of Orders
against polluting industries numbering more than fifty thousand
in the Ganga basin. As a result of these directions millions of
people have been saved from the effects of air and water pollution
in Ganga basin covering 8 states in India.

Kamal Nath’s Case

The irony of this case is that a Public Interest Litigation was filed
against the family members of Kamal Nath, the Minister of
Environment and Forests, Govt. of India. The family members of
the Minister own the Span motel in the State of Himachal
Pradesh. They diverted the Course of River Beas to beautify the
motel. The Supreme Court of India had directed the owners of the
Motel to hand over the forest land to the Govt. of Himachal
Pradesh and further order the removal of all sorts of
encroachment spending the money from their own pocket.

In M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India, AIR 1987 SC 1086 (Popularly

known as “Oleum Gas Leak Case”) – The Supreme Court treated
the right to live in pollution free environment as a part of
fundamental right to life under Art.21 of the Constitution. The
Supreme Court held that where an enterprise is engaged in a
hazardous or inherently dangerous activity and harm results to
any one on account of an accident in the operation of such
hazardous and inherently dangerous activity resulting in the
escape of toxic gas the enterprise is strictly and absolutely liable
to compensate all those who are affected by the accident and
such a liability is not subject to any exception. The enterprise
must be absolutely liable to compensate for such harm and it
should be no answer to the enterprise to say that it had taken all
reasonable care and that the harm occurred without negligence
on its part. Absolute liability is one tort where fault need not be
established. It is no-fault liability.

Further, the A.P. High Court in T. Damodar Rao v. S.O.,

Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad, (AIR 1987 A.P. 171)laid
down that right to live in healthy environment was specially
declared to be part of Art.21 to the Constitution.

Penal provisions under the Environment Protection Act

Section 15- General offences

Section 15 prescribes the penalty for general offences committed

under this Act. if any person fails to comply with or contravenes
any provisions of this Act, or rules made or orders or directions
issued, he would be punishable with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to five years or with a fine up to Rs. 1 Lakh, or
with both. If the failure or contravention continues, then an
additional fine which may extend to Rs. 5000 may be laid for
every day the failure or contravention continues. And if this
failure or contravention extends beyond one year after the date of
convection, then the imprisonment can extend upto seven years.
Section 16- Offences by companies

For an offence committed by a company, Section 16 holds

responsible the person who at the time the offence was
committed was in charge of and responsible for the conduct of
the company as well as the company. However, if it proved that
any such person was liable exercised due diligence or that the
offence was committed without his knowledge. Also, if it is proved
that the offence was committed with the consent, connivance, or
negligence of any director, manager, secretary, or another officer,
then such person shall be liable to be proceeded against.

It is also specified that ‘company’ includes any body corporate, a

firm, or any other association of individuals. The word ‘director’
also means ‘partner’ in relation to a firm.

Section 17- Offences by government departments

Section 17 lays down that for an offence committed by a

government department, the Head of the Department shall be
held responsible unless he proves that the offence was committed
without his knowledge or that due diligence was exercised.
However, if it is proved that the offence has been committed with
the consent, connivance, or neglect of any officer other than the
Head of the Department, then that officer shall be proceeded
against and punished accordingly.

Conclusion
In India, the concern for environmental protection has not only
been raised to the status of fundamental law of the land, but it is
also wedded with human rights approach and it is now well
established that, it is the basic human right of every individual to
live in pollution free environment with full human dignity.

It is high time that the general public, public entities, state and
central government realize the damage, which our developmental
process has made to the living environment.

For the success of the local government laws relating to the

environment it is essential to create a sense of civic
consciousness and public hygiene in the use of municipal
services like roads, public places, drainage etc. Strict
enforcement of the provisions of law also is needed. Law is a
strong medium to compel the citizens to observe cleanliness and
thereby to combat pollution. Environmental protection laws in
India need a new orientation in the modern context.

As Paul Bigelow Sears said, “How far must suffering and misery
go before we see that even in the day of vast cities and powerful
machines, the good earth is our mother and that if we destroy
her, we destroy ourselves.”