Environmental Law

         ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

                             Environment comes as a basic necessity in the day-to-day life. The existence a better than good atmosphere is quite needful in the present existing era. Environment in itself contains regime-law of public nuisance, conservation of forest and various other important resources. Environment comes as a basic backbone for every single living being.

                            Environment plays a pivotal role in human life as well as in the development of society. With growing technological advancement and industrialization, the purity of the environment has been threatened to an appalling extent. The need to protect and improve the environment is so compelling for the peaceful survival of mankind and other life forms on planet Earth that right to environment has emerged as a human right.

                            The word “Environment” is of broad spectrum, which brings within its ambit, Hygienic atmosphere and Ecological balance. It is therefore not only the duty of the State but also the duty of every citizen to maintain hygienic environment. Many are the noteworthy judicial decisions that touched upon the various aspects environmental pollution and degradation and all these development have found an echo in India too.

                            The world has always been ruled by the formula of “might is right”, but in today’s modern democratic and so called civilized society there comes in the legislation of those ‘laws’. All the democratic societies of 21st century has drafted and setup some codified norms over the protection of rights of the common man in regards to the environment. Such law is said to be known as the Environmental Law.

                            “Environmental Law is perceived as one of the most important tools of environmental management. Until very recently, it was a part of various civil and criminal laws specifying rights of individuals groups of people and the state over the nature (land, water, air, plants, wild life, etc.)”

                            “With the emergence of environmental destruction as a major threat to human survival, the development scope of environmental law has emerged as the most important tool of promoting development without destruction. The volume aims at focussing on global environmental concerns and the Indian response as evident from legal measures attempted to meet the growing demand for economic development without sacrificing the environmental goals and objectives.”

                                 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’. Reference to the environment has also been made in the Directive Principles of State Policy as well as the Fundamental Rights. The Department of Environment was established in India in 1980 to ensure a healthy environment for the country. This later became the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 1985.

                            Article 21 of the Constitution of India envisages right to life as a fundamental right and therefore enjoyment of life and its attainment including the right to life with human dignity encompasses within its ambits. The protection and preservation of environment, ecological balance free from pollution of air and water, sanitation without which life cannot be enjoyed. Pollution of environment, ecological, air, and water regarded as violation of Article 21. Therefore hygienic environment is an integral facet of right to healthy life. Recently, Supreme Court had made many land mark judgments for the preservation of environment, ecology, wildlife, forests, etc.

                            The constitutional provisions are backed by a number of laws – acts, rules, and notifications. The EPA (Environment Protection Act), 1986 came into force soon after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and is considered umbrella legislation as it fills many gaps in the existing laws. Thereafter a large number of laws came into existence as the problems began arising, for example, Handling and Management of Hazardous Waste Rules in 1989.