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B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Environmental Law 2025 Jan Question Paper with Solutions

KSLU Solved Question Papers

Environmental Law

Previous Year Question Paper with Solution

B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10

2025 Jan Examination

munotes.in

Mumbai

First published on munotes.in on 31 October 2026.

Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.

Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.

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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2025 Jan examination.

The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Jan examination, in the order it was set.

MarksPage

The Paper as Set

The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025 Jan 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 80 · 20 questions answered

Instructions printed on the paper

N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note are compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer 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.

Read the original question paper

Q1

Unit I

(a)Explain the history of environment protection in India.[10]

Answer

For full marks, cover: the history in stages: ancient India (Vedic ethic, Kautilya, Ashoka); the medieval period; the British period (forest laws, early nuisance and wildlife laws); independence to Stockholm; Stockholm to Bhopal (Water Act, 42nd Amendment, Forest Act, Air Act, a Ministry); Bhopal and after (EPA 1986, absolute liability, PLI Act); the courts and Rio (Vellore); the Green Tribunal and recent reforms; with cases; and an assessment.

1. Ancient India

Protection of nature began as religion and custom. The Vedas revered earth, water, fire, air and space, and the Atharva Veda called the earth our mother. Trees, rivers and animals were held sacred.

The State also acted. Kautilya's Arthashastra appointed a Superintendent of Forests and fixed fines for cutting trees and fouling water. Emperor Ashoka banned the killing of many animals and birds in his fifth Pillar Edict, and planted trees and dug wells along roads.

2. The medieval period

Rulers kept forests mostly as hunting grounds. Communities continued to protect sacred groves and village tanks by custom. There was no general law on the environment.

3. The British period

The British treated forests as a source of revenue and timber, especially for the navy and the railways.

Lord Dalhousie's forest memorandum of 1855, and the Forest Department of 1864.
The Indian Forest Acts of 1865, 1878 and 1927. The 1927 Act is still in force.
Early pollution laws. The Shore Nuisances (Bombay and Kolaba) Act 1853 dealt with nuisances on the Bombay shore. The Indian Penal Code 1860 punished public nuisance. The Indian Fisheries Act 1897 forbade poisoning water to kill fish, and the Bengal Smoke Nuisances Act 1905 tackled smoke in Calcutta.
Wildlife laws, such as the Elephants' Preservation Act 1879 and the Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act 1912.

These laws were scattered and local. Their aim was revenue and order, not conservation.

4. From independence to 1972

The Constitution of 1950 had no environmental article. Article 47, on public health, was the closest. The National Forest Policy of 1952 still aimed at production. Industry and dams were the priority of the Five Year Plans. The Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972 was the main step of this period.

5. Stockholm to Bhopal (1972 to 1984)

The Stockholm Conference of 1972 changed the climate of opinion. India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi spoke there of poverty as the greatest polluter. What followed:

the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, passed under Article 252, with Pollution Control Boards;
the Forty-second Amendment 1976, adding Articles 48A and 51A(g) and moving forests and wild life to the Concurrent List;
the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, now the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam 1980;
a Department of Environment in 1980, which became a Ministry in 1985; and
the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, passed under Article 253.

6. Bhopal and after (1984 to 1992)

The Bhopal gas disaster of December 1984 showed the gaps. Parliament passed the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, an umbrella law with wide powers for the Central Government. The Public Liability Insurance Act 1991 made owners of hazardous units insure, so victims get quick relief.

M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (the Oleum Gas Leak case), AIR 1987 SC 1086. Oleum gas leaked from a Shriram unit in Delhi in 1985. The Supreme Court refused to follow the English rule in Rylands v. Fletcher. It laid down absolute liability for hazardous industries, with no exceptions. Indian law had begun to build its own rules.

7. The courts and the Rio principles

The courts made the right to a healthy environment part of Article 21, and opened their doors through public interest litigation.

Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand, AIR 1980 SC 1622. Residents complained of open drains and stench. The Supreme Court upheld a Magistrate's order under section 133 of the Cr.P.C. directing the municipality to build drains. Lack of funds was no excuse.

Vellore Citizens' Welfare Forum v. Union of India, AIR 1996 SC 2715. Tanneries were polluting the Palar river. The Supreme Court held that three principles of the Rio Declaration of 1992 are part of Indian law. They are sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle.

8. Recent stage

The Biological Diversity Act 2002 followed the Biodiversity Convention. The National Green Tribunal Act 2010 created a specialist court with expert members, bound by section 20 to apply the Rio principles. More recently came the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act 2022 and the forest law amendment of 2023. The Jan Vishwas Act 2023 replaced many prison terms in the pollution Acts with money penalties.

Assessment

India moved from custom, to colonial control, to a full legal system of Acts, Boards, a Ministry and a Tribunal. Its weakness is enforcement: the Boards lack staff, and the courts have often had to step in.

Conclusion. Environmental protection in India began with ancient ethics and Kautilya's rules. It passed through colonial forest and nuisance laws, and became modern law after Stockholm 1972 and Bhopal 1984. Its milestones are the Water, Air and Environment Acts and the 42nd Amendment. Then came the courts' reading of Article 21 and the Rio principles, and the NGT Act 2010.

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