The Air Act 1981 and Article 253

Two, amendments apply everywhere too. This is the practical difference that matters today. When the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2023 replaced the Air Act's penal provisions with penalties, the change took effect on 1 April 2024 throughout India. The corresponding change to the Water Act, made by the Amendment Act of 2024, applied at first only to Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Union territories, because an Article 252 Act must be amended through the same door. Two Acts, two amendments, one uniform and one not.

Three, a State Legislature is not disabled in the same way. Article 252(2) expressly forbids a State from amending or repealing an Act passed under clause (1) as respects that State, which is why Maharashtra had to repeal its own water pollution Act. Article 253 contains no such provision. What limits a State here is the ordinary law of repugnancy and the fact that the field is occupied.

Four, the recital is doing legal work. The preamble's reference to Stockholm is not decoration. It is the jurisdictional fact on which Article 253 operates, and a challenge to the Act's competence would have to attack it.

Sub-section (3): commencement

The Act came into force on a date the Central Government appointed by notification. Unlike the Water Act, where "commencement" means commencement in a particular State and a reference to it is read accordingly under section 1(3) of that Act, the Air Act has one commencement date for the whole country.

That matters for the transitional provisions. Section 21 speaks of a person operating an industrial plant in an air pollution control area, and section 22 of emission in excess of the standards, and both are worked out from a single national date rather than from a State by State one.

A worked example

Two units, one at Ludhiana in Punjab and one at Bhiwandi in Maharashtra. Both emit particulate matter above the standard, and both discharge effluent above the standard, on 1 June 2024.

The air offence. The same law applies to both. The Air Act extends to the whole of India, and the Jan Vishwas amendments came into force everywhere on 1 April 2024, so in each case the contravention of section 22 attracts a penalty under section 37 assessed by an adjudicating officer.

The water offence. Not the same law. Punjab and Maharashtra each came under the Water Act by adoption, and on 1 June 2024 neither had adopted the 2024 Amendment Act, so in each the contravention of section 24 was still an offence and not a penalty. Maharashtra adopted in March 2025; the position in another State depends on that State.

One factory, two regulatory statutes, one of which is uniform across India and one of which is not. That is the practical residue of the difference between Article 252 and Article 253, and it is the single most useful thing to be able to say about section 1 of either Act.

What it does NOT mean

It does not mean Article 253 gives Parliament power over air pollution generally. It gives power to legislate to implement a treaty, agreement, convention or a decision at an international conference. The Stockholm decisions are the peg, and the preamble recites them.

It does not mean the Air Act overrides State law by force of Article 253. Its overriding effect comes from its own provisions and from the ordinary rules on repugnancy, not from the article that conferred competence.

It does not mean the Act was in force from 1981. It came into force on the date the Central Government appointed by notification under sub-section (3).

It does not mean the Water Act's difficulty was a drafting error. It was a constitutional necessity in 1974, before Parliament had a conference to point at.

Quick revision

• Section 1(2): "It extends to the whole of India." No list of States, no adoption, no resolutions.
• Competence rests on Article 253, which permits Parliament to legislate for the whole or any part of India to implement a treaty, agreement, convention or a decision at an international conference, notwithstanding the distribution of legislative powers.
• The peg is the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, June 1972, recited in the preamble.
• Consequences: no adoption; amendments apply nationally, so the Jan Vishwas changes took effect everywhere on 1 April 2024; no Article 252(2) bar on State legislation, only ordinary repugnancy; and the recital is a jurisdictional fact.
• Section 1(3): one commencement date for the whole country, appointed by the Central Government.

Test yourself

1. What does section 1(2) of the Air Act say, and why is it so much shorter than its Water Act counterpart? It says simply that the Act extends to the whole of India. It is shorter because the Air Act was enacted under Article 253 to implement decisions taken at the Stockholm Conference of 1972, which lets Parliament legislate for the whole of India notwithstanding the distribution of legislative powers, whereas the Water Act was enacted under Article 252 on the resolutions of twelve State Legislatures and applies to any further State only on that State's adoption, which section 1(2) of that Act therefore has to spell out.

2. Why does the difference still matter in 2026? Because an amendment travels by the same route as the Act it amends. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2023 decriminalised the Air Act's penal provisions with effect from 1 April 2024 throughout India. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act 2024 did the same for the Water Act but applied in the first instance only to Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Union territories, and reaches any other State only when that State adopts it. So the same factory may be under a decriminalised air regime and an un-decriminalised water regime at the same time.

3. What jurisdictional fact does the preamble supply? That decisions were taken at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm in June 1972, in which India participated, to take appropriate steps for the preservation of the natural resources of the earth including the preservation of the quality of air and the control of air pollution. Article 253 requires a treaty, agreement, convention or decision at an international conference to implement, and that recital is what satisfies the requirement.

4. Is a State Legislature forbidden to legislate on air pollution? Not in the way it is forbidden under the Water Act. Article 252(2) expressly prevents a State from amending or repealing an Act passed under Article 252(1) as respects that State, which is why Maharashtra had to repeal its own water pollution Act of 1969. Article 253 contains no such provision, so what limits a State here is the ordinary law of repugnancy and the fact that Parliament has occupied the field.