Resource Management and The Law Notes | LL.M. Semester 1 | Mumbai University | munotes

Contents

Module I

1. What This Paper Is, and the Four Words MU Prints 1
2. What a Natural Resource Is, and What Managing One Means in Law 5
3. Water in the Constitution 9
4. Is There a Right to Water? 13
5. Who Owns Water 17
6. Riparian Rights, and Section 7 of the Easements Act 21
7. Riparian Rights in Irrigation, and the Problems a Riparian Faces 26
8. Customary Water Rights, and the Village Tank 30
9. The Inter-State River Water Disputes Act 1956: What It Is For 34
10. Reference to a Tribunal, and How One Is Constituted 38
11. The Award, and Why It Is a Decree of the Supreme Court 42
12. The Bar in Section 11, and the Rest of the Act 46
13. What Is Wrong With the Machinery, and What Was Proposed 51
14. The River Boards Act 1956: The Half That Never Happened 55
15. What a River Board Would Have Done 59
16. Arbitration Under the River Boards Act, and Dissolution 63
17. Article 262 and the Courts 67
18. The Cauvery Dispute 72
19. The 2018 Decree, and the Cauvery Water Management Authority 76
20. In re Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal: A State Cannot Legislate Away an Order 81
21. The Other Disputes 85
22. Interlinking of Rivers 89
23. The Dam Safety Act 2021: The Institutions 93
24. The State Tier, and the Obligations of a Dam Owner 97
25. Reporting, Safety Review and the Offences 101
26. Narmada Bachao Andolan: A Dam, a Displacement and a Divided Court 105
27. Ground Water: What an Aquifer Is 110
28. Absolute Dominion Over Percolating Water, and How It Broke 114
29. The Central Ground Water Authority 120
30. The Environment (Protection) Act 1986 as the Umbrella 124
31. The 2024 Penalty Regime Under the Environment Act 129
32. The Maharashtra Groundwater Act 2009: The Authorities 134
33. The District Tier, and Protecting a Drinking Water Source 137
34. Watersheds, Aquifers and the Groundwater Use Plan 141
35. Offences, Appeals and the Rules Under the Maharashtra Act 145
36. Salinity: Coastal Ingress, Irrigation and Effluent 148
37. Rainwater Harvesting 152
38. The National Water Policy 2012 156
39. The Bills That Did Not Pass 160
40. Wetlands, and the Ramsar Idea of Wise Use 164
41. The Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules 2017 168
42. The Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act 2005 172
43. Enforcing the Aquaculture Act, and the 2023 Amendment 177
44. Fishing Regulation in Maharashtra 183
45. The Water Act 1974: The Boards 187
46. Consent, and the Prohibition in Section 24 192
47. The Sanctions, and the 2024 Penalty Regime 197
48. Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum: Three Principles in One Judgment 203

Module II

1. Land as a Resource 207
2. Land in the Constitution 211
3. Who Owns the Minerals Under a Field 216
4. The MMDR Act 1957: The Declaration That Makes It Central 221
5. The Concessions: Permit, Licence and Lease 226
6. Royalty, Dead Rent, and What a State Actually Earns 231
7. The District Mineral Foundation and the Exploration Trust 237
8. Auction: Sections 10B and 11, and What 2015 Changed 242
9. Coal, Lignite, Atomic Minerals and Critical Minerals 247
10. The Rule-Making Powers, and the Register of Concessions 252
11. Minor Minerals, Section 15, and Deepak Kumar 257
12. Reservation, Conservation and the Power to Prospect 261
13. Void Concessions, Directions and the Revisional Power 265
14. The Penalties, and Section 21(5) 269
15. The Rest of the MMDR Act 274
16. Sand: The Hardest Mineral to Police 278
17. The Dehradun Limestone Quarries: Where the Judicial Remedy Began 282
18. Goa: The Foundation Cases 287
19. Common Cause: Compensation at a Hundred Per Cent 292
20. Samatha: Mining in a Scheduled Area 297
21. Mining on Forest Land: Niyamgiri and the Gram Sabha 302
22. Lafarge, and How a Forest Clearance Is Reviewed 306
23. Joshimath, and Building on Ground That Cannot Carry It 311
24. Offshore Minerals, Coal Bearing Areas and Oilfields 315
25. The National Mineral Policy 2019, and What Sustainable Mining Means 320
26. The Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2006 324
27. Eco-Friendly Land Planning: Conservation, Utilisation and Conversion 328
28. Town Planning Law, and the Development Plan 332
29. Conversion of Land Use 336
30. Urbanisation and Concretisation: What a City Loses When It Is Paved 340
31. Taking Land: The 2013 Act and the Social Impact Assessment 345
32. Compensation, Rehabilitation and Resettlement 351
33. The Authority, the Appeal, and the Land That Comes Back 356
34. What Indian Forests Have Served 361
35. Reserved Forests, and the Settlement of Rights 366
36. Pasture, Forest Produce and the Record of Rights 370
37. What May Not Be Done in a Reserved Forest 374
38. Village Forests and Protected Forests 378
39. Forests That Are Not the Government's, and the Duty on Timber 383
40. Timber in Transit, and Drift and Stranded Timber 388
41. Forest Officers, Arrest, and the Presumption of Government Property 393
42. The Penalties, and the Rest of the Indian Forest Act 398
43. The Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam 1980 403
44. Godavarman, and the Dictionary Meaning of Forest 407
45. The 2023 Amendment, and What Section 1A Took Out 411
46. Compensatory Afforestation and Net Present Value 416
47. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Authorities 422
48. The National Forest Policy 1988 428
49. Joint Forest Management, and the People Who Protect a Forest 434
50. The Ancient Monuments Act 1958: What Is Protected 440
51. The Owner, the Guardian and the Power to Acquire 446
52. The Prohibited Area, the Regulated Area and the 2010 Amendment 452
53. Archaeological Sites, Excavation and the Penalties 458
54. The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972 465
55. Seizure, Confiscation and the Offences Under the Antiquities Act 472
56. Natural Heritage, and the World Heritage Convention 478
57. The Judicial Approach: Taj Trapezium, the Viceregal Lodge and the Aminabad Park 485
58. Culture and Heritage: The Statutes, the Treaties and the Judgments Together 491

Module III

1. Four Regimes, Not Two 497
2. The Tragedy of the Commons, and What Hardin Actually Described 501
3. Ostrom's Answer: Why a Commons Is Not Doomed 505
4. Res Communis, Res Nullius and Res Publicae 510
5. State Property: Eminent Domain, the Police Power and Escheat 514
6. The Public Trust Doctrine: M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath 519
7. The Doctrine Extended: The Beach, the Tank and the Park 524
8. Village Commons: The Pond That Was Filled In 529
9. Wildlife as Common Property, and Wildlife as State Property 534
10. The Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972: The Officers and the Boards 539
11. The Prohibition of Hunting, and When It Is Permitted 544
12. Specified Plants 549
13. Declaring a Sanctuary, and Settling the Rights Inside It 554
14. What May Not Be Done Inside a Sanctuary 559
15. National Parks, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves 565
16. Zoos and the Central Zoo Authority 571
17. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, and the Critical Tiger Habitat 576
18. Ownership Certificates, Trophies and the Ban on Trade 584
19. CITES, and the 2022 Amendment 591
20. Offences, Penalties and Forfeiture 598
21. Wildlife as a Renewable Resource, and Where That Idea Stops 607
22. The Biological Diversity Act 2002: Who May Take a Biological Resource 612
23. The National Biodiversity Authority 618
24. State Boards, Management Committees and the People's Biodiversity Register 624
25. The 2023 Recast of the Biological Diversity Act 631
26. Tribal Habitats: Who a Forest Dweller Is 637
27. The Forest Rights Act 2006: The Thirteen Rights 642
28. The Gram Sabha, and How a Right Is Recognised 648
29. PESA 1996, and the Fifth Schedule 653
30. Critical Wildlife Habitats: Where the Two Acts Collide 658
31. Conservation of Flora and Fauna as a Common Property Question 663
32. Natural Heritage and Tribal Habitats Classified 668
33. Historical Monuments as Common Property and as State Property 673
34. Popular Movements: Chipko, Silent Valley, Narmada and Niyamgiri 678
35. What the Movements Changed in the Law Itself 684

Module IV

1. Energy as a Resource 688
2. Energy in the Constitution 692
3. Conventional Energy: What It Is and What It Costs 696
4. Coal: Nationalisation, the Cancellation and Commercial Mining 700
5. Petroleum and Natural Gas 705
6. The Atomic Energy Act 1962 711
7. Control Over Mining, Production and Radiation 718
8. Secrecy, Inventions and the Offences Under the Atomic Energy Act 726
9. Atomic Minerals, and Section 11B of the MMDR Act 733
10. The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010 739
11. Section 17(b): The Supplier's Liability 747
12. The Claims Commissioner and the Nuclear Damage Claims Commission 752
13. The Offences, and the Bar on a Civil Court 759
14. Kudankulam: G. Sundarrajan, and What a Court Will Not Review 765
15. Non-Conventional Energy: The Six Sources 771
16. Wind Energy 775
17. Solar Energy, and the Land a Solar Park Needs 780
18. The Electricity Act 2003: The Scheme 784
19. Generation Without a Licence, and the Licence for Everything Else 789
20. Transmission, and the Load Despatch Centres 796
21. Distribution, the Duty to Supply and Open Access 802
22. Tariff, and Section 61(h) 808
23. The Central Electricity Authority and the Regulatory Commissions 813
24. Renewable Purchase Obligation and Renewable Energy Certificates 821
25. The Appellate Tribunal, Unauthorised Use, and the Rest of the Act 827
26. The Energy Conservation Act 2001: The Bureau 835
27. Standards, Labels, the Building Code and the Designated Consumer 842
28. Penalty, Adjudication and Appeal Under the Energy Conservation Act 850
29. Merits and Demerits of Conventional Energy 858
30. Merits and Demerits of Non-Conventional Energy 863
31. Generation, Transmission and Utilisation: Where the Energy Is Lost 868
32. Alternatives That Mitigate the Damage 874
33. The Transition: Net Zero, Green Hydrogen and a Just Transition 880