KSLU Solved Question Papers
Environmental Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2013 Jun Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Environmental Law 2013 Jun Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2013 Jun examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2013 Jun examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2013 Jun examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all 5 questions. (2) One essay type and one short note question or problem from each Unit have to be attempted. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Explain the concept of Environment and its components.[15]
Answer
For full marks, cover: Part I, the concept of environment from four angles: the scientific (surroundings and conditions of life), the ecological (a system of interacting parts), the human (Stockholm's preamble: "creature and moulder", natural and man-made), and the legal (EPA s.2(a), NGT Act s.2(1)(c), Articles 48A and 51A(g), and judicial readings in Virendra Gaur, the Kanpur tanneries case and Kamal Nath); Part II, the components: the four natural spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere) with what each contains and does, the biotic and abiotic division, the cycles that link them, and the man-made and socio-cultural environment; the law that protects each component (a table); and a conclusion.
Part I: the concept of environment
1. The scientific concept. Environment is the sum of all external conditions and influences that affect the life, growth and survival of an organism. For a human being it includes the air breathed, the water drunk, the food grown on the land and the climate. It also includes other living things, and the houses, roads and institutions people build.
2. The ecological concept. Ecology sees the environment as a system, not a list. Its parts act on one another: plants need soil, water and sunlight; animals need plants; decomposers return nutrients to the soil. A change in one part affects the rest. So the environment is understood through interactions and balance.
3. The human concept. The Stockholm Declaration of 1972 begins with the human view. Its first preambular paragraph says: "Man is both creature and moulder of his environment." Man depends on the environment for physical sustenance, and also shapes it through science and technology. It adds: "Both aspects of man's environment, the natural and the man-made, are essential to his well-being." So environment includes both what nature gives and what people build.
4. The legal concept.
- Statute. Section 2(a) of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 says that "environment" includes "water, air and land and the inter-relationship which exists among and between water, air and land, and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism and property". Section 2(1)(c) of the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 uses the same words. The definition is inclusive, covers living and non-living things and property, and stresses the inter-relationships, the ecological idea.
- Constitution. Article 48A asks the State to "protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country". Article 51A(g) speaks of "the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life".
- Courts. In Virendra Gaur v. State of Haryana, (1995) 2 SCC 577, the Supreme Court said the word environment is of broad spectrum, covering a hygienic atmosphere and ecological balance. In the Kanpur tanneries case, M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 1988 SC 1037, it put "life, health and ecology" above lost jobs and revenue. In M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, (1997) 1 SCC 388, it treated rivers, forests and the sea-shore as natural resources held by the State in trust for the public.
The concept in sum. Environment is the whole web of physical, biological and human surroundings, linked together, on which life depends and which human action changes.
Part II: the components of the environment
A. The natural environment: four spheres.
1. Atmosphere. This is the layer of gases around the Earth. It is mainly nitrogen (about 78 per cent) and oxygen (about 21 per cent), with carbon dioxide, water vapour and others. Its lowest layer, the troposphere, holds the weather. Above it, the stratosphere holds the ozone layer, which screens out harmful ultraviolet rays. The atmosphere supplies oxygen, keeps the Earth warm through the natural greenhouse effect, and carries rain.
2. Hydrosphere. All the water on Earth: oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, ground water, glaciers and water vapour. Almost all of it, about 97 per cent, is salt water in the oceans. Only a small share is fresh water available for drinking and farming. The hydrosphere regulates climate and supports aquatic life.
3. Lithosphere. The solid outer layer of the Earth: rocks, minerals and soil. Soil, formed over centuries from weathered rock and decayed matter, grows food and forests and filters water. Minerals and fossil fuels come from the lithosphere.
4. Biosphere. The zone where life exists, where the other three spheres meet. It contains all plants, animals and micro-organisms, including human beings. Its variety of life is biodiversity.
B. Biotic and abiotic. The same components can be divided into the abiotic (non-living: air, water, soil, sunlight, temperature) and the biotic (living: producers, consumers and decomposers). An ecosystem is the working unit in which the two interact.
C. The cycles that link the spheres. The spheres are joined by natural cycles:
- the water cycle: evaporation, rain and run-off;
- the carbon cycle: plants take in carbon dioxide, and respiration, decay and burning return it; and
- the nitrogen cycle: bacteria fix nitrogen in the soil, and plants and animals return it.
Pollution and deforestation disturb these cycles, which is why harm in one sphere spreads to others.
D. The man-made environment. Towns, buildings, roads, dams, farms and industries are the built environment. It meets human needs but also produces waste, emissions and crowding.
E. The social and cultural environment. Monuments, sacred places, traditions, institutions and ways of life are also part of the human environment. The Taj Mahal, damaged by sulphur dioxide from nearby industry, shows that cultural heritage is an environmental concern.
Threats to each component
- Atmosphere: smoke, vehicle exhaust, dust, greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting chemicals.
- Hydrosphere: sewage, industrial effluent, farm run-off, plastic and over-drawing of ground water.
- Lithosphere: soil erosion, mining, dumping of solid and hazardous waste, and excess fertiliser and pesticide.
- Biosphere: loss of habitat, poaching, invasive species and climate change.
- Man-made and cultural: crowding, unplanned building and pollution that damages monuments.
Why the concept matters in law
A broad, connected concept lets the law reach harm wherever it travels. Because the Air Act counts noise as an air pollutant, noise can be controlled as pollution. Because the EPA protects "property" and inter-relationships, a court can protect a monument by controlling the air around it. Because the courts read environment into Article 21, a citizen can enforce it as a fundamental right. And because the parts are linked, an environmental impact assessment must look at a project as a whole. It asks how the project affects air, water, land and living things together, not one at a time.
The law that protects each component
| Component | Main law |
|---|---|
| Atmosphere | Air Act 1981; Ozone Depleting Substances Rules 2000; climate policy |
| Hydrosphere | Water Act 1974; CRZ Notification 2019 |
| Lithosphere | Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and the waste rules; mining clearances |
| Biosphere | Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972; Van Adhiniyam 1980; Biological Diversity Act 2002 |
| Component | Main law |
|---|---|
| Man-made | town planning law; EIA Notification 2006 |
| Cultural | Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958; the Taj Trapezium case |
In the Taj Trapezium case, M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 1997 SC 734, the Supreme Court protected a monument by controlling air pollution. That shows how the components are linked in law as in nature.
Conclusion. Environment is the whole of the physical, biological and human surroundings of life, linked by their inter-relationships. Science sees it as conditions of life, ecology as a system, and Stockholm as both natural and man-made. Section 2(a) of the EPA defines it inclusively, stressing inter-relationships, and the courts read it broadly (Virendra Gaur, Kamal Nath). Its components are the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere, joined by the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles. To these are added the man-made and cultural environment, each protected by its own law.
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