B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Environmental Law 2015 Jun Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: Part I, the meaning of "environment": the ordinary meaning (surroundings), its components (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and the human-made environment), the statutory definition in EPA s.2(a), repeated in NGT Act s.2(1)(c), explained element by element, the constitutional wording in Article 51A(g), and the judicial meaning (Virendra Gaur); Part II, environmental pollution (EPA s.2(b) and (c)) and its causes: natural causes, then human causes sector by sector (industry, energy, transport, cities and their waste, agriculture, mining and quarrying, loss of forests, hazardous substances, noise, new wastes), each with a decided case; the root causes behind them (population, poverty and affluence, technology, the cost shifted onto others, weak enforcement); a table; and a conclusion.

Part I: the meaning of "environment"

Ordinary meaning. The word comes from the French environner, to surround. In plain terms, environment means everything that surrounds a living being and affects its life and growth.

Its components.

3. Living things. Human beings, other living creatures, plants and micro-organisms are all covered, so the Act protects more than human health.
4. Property. Buildings and monuments are included. That is why harm to the Taj Mahal was an environmental matter.
5. Inter-relationships. The key words are "the inter-relationship which exists among and between" these elements. The Act protects the links, such as the water cycle and food chains, not only the separate parts. This is the ecological view of environment.

The Constitution. Article 51A(g) speaks of "the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life". Article 48A asks the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife.

The judicial meaning. In Virendra Gaur v. State of Haryana, (1995) 2 SCC 577, the Supreme Court said that the word environment "is of broad spectrum". It "brings within its ambit 'hygienic atmosphere and ecological balance'". So environment covers both the cleanliness of our surroundings and the balance of nature.

2. Energy. Burning coal and oil releases sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, soot and carbon dioxide. In the Taj Trapezium case, M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 1997 SC 734, coal-based industries and a refinery near Agra produced sulphur dioxide that was damaging the Taj Mahal.

3. Transport. Vehicle exhaust is a leading cause of urban air pollution. Consider the vehicular pollution order of 28 July 1998, M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 1998 SC 2963. The Government's own figures put vehicles at about seventy per cent of Delhi's air pollution. The Court set deadlines to move Delhi's buses to a single clean fuel.

4. Cities and their waste. Cities grow faster than their sewers, drains and dumping grounds. In Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand, AIR 1980 SC 1622, open drains and public excretion made a town ward unlivable. In Almitra H. Patel v. Union of India, AIR 2000 SC 1256, Delhi's garbage and untreated waste were dumped into the Yamuna or left on open land.

5. Agriculture. Excess fertilisers and pesticides seep into soil and ground water and run off into rivers, where they feed algae and kill fish. Burning crop stubble after harvest fills the air with smoke across northern India.

10. New wastes. Plastics, electronic waste and bio-medical waste do not break down easily, and some are toxic. Radioactive material is a further risk, considered in G. Sundarrajan v. Union of India, (2013) 6 SCC 620, on the Kudankulam nuclear plant.

C. The root causes behind them

1. Growth of population. More people need more food, water, energy and housing, and produce more waste.
2. Poverty and affluence. The poor may have to cut fuelwood or live beside open drains. The rich consume far more energy and goods and produce more waste.
3. Technology. Old, inefficient processes pollute more. New chemicals bring new risks.
4. The cost shifted onto others. A polluter saves money by passing the harm to the public. Rio Principle 16 answers this with the internalisation of environmental costs, so that the polluter pays.
5. Weak enforcement and low awareness. Pollution Control Boards lack staff and laboratories, and many citizens do not know their rights and duties.

The causes at a glance

Conclusion. Environment means our surroundings: air, water, land, living things and property, and the inter-relationships among them (EPA s.2(a); Virendra Gaur: "hygienic atmosphere and ecological balance"). Pollution is the presence of injurious substances in it (s.2(b) and (c)). A few causes are natural. Most are human: industry, energy, transport, cities, farming, mining, deforestation, hazardous substances, noise and new wastes. Behind them lie population, poverty and affluence, technology, costs shifted onto others and weak enforcement. Each cause has brought a leading case, and the law answers them through the polluter pays principle and its Acts.