COMPENDIUM OF SUMMARIES OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS IN ENVIRONMENT RELATED CASES

INDIA

India - Environmental Rights, Role of the Courts

SACHIDANAND PANDEY v. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

AIR 1987 SC 1109
O. CHINNAPPA REDDY and V. KHALID JJ.

Introduction

The Petitioner challenged the decision of the Government of West Bengal to allot a portion of six acres of land from a zoological garden for the construction of a five star hotel. His contention was that the Government's decision reflected lack of awareness of the serious environmental degradation that would result, and therefore required the intervention of the Court to have the decision reversed.

Legal Framework

Constitution of India Article 32, 48A, 51A and 226.

Held

The Court rejected the petition stating that upon consideration of all the relevant facts and circumstances, it felt assured that the proposed garden hotel would improve the ecology and environment of the land concerned.

The Court observed that society's interaction with nature is so extensive today that environmental issues have assumed proportions affecting all humanity. Industrialisation, urbanisation, the population explosion, over exploitation of resources, depletion of traditional sources of energy and raw materials, the disruption of natural ecological balances and the destruction of a multitude of animal and plant species are all factors which have contributed to environmental degradation. The Court also observed "When the Court is called upon to give effect to the Directive Principle and the fundamental duty, the Court is not to shrug its shoulders and say that priorities are a matter of policy and so it is a matter for the policy-making authority. The least that a Court may do is to examine whether appropriate considerations are borne in mind and irrelevancies excluded. In appropriate cases, the Court may go further, but how much further must depend on the circumstances of the case. The Court may always give necessary directions. However, the Court will not attempt to nicely balance the relevant considerations. When the question involves the nice balancing of relevant considerations, the Court may feel justified in resigning itself to acceptance of the decision of the authority".

Cases Cited

AIR 1986 S.C. 1158
AIR 1985 S.C. 1147
AIR 1983 S.C. 1207
AIR 1980 S.C. 1992
AIR 1979 S.C. 1628