Mumbai University Solved Question Papers
Environmental Legislations
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
LLM · Group 6 Environment and Legal Order
2019 Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
LLM Group 6 Environment and Legal Order Environmental Legislations 2019 Question Paper with Solutions
Get access to whole semester resourcesSemester Pass
MU LLM student group
Free to join
First published on munotes.in on 14 September 2026.
Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.
Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
Passages from this volume may be quoted, in print, online or by an AI system, with credit: name munotes.in and link to this volume's page. The volume may not be reproduced as a whole. Full terms at munotes.in/content-license.
munotes.in is an independent study resource for students of the University of Mumbai. It is not affiliated with the University of Mumbai, and is not endorsed by it.
The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.
The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by the University of Mumbai at the 2019 examination.
The law in these answers is stated as at September 2026, and five changes date most textbooks here. The Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure were replaced on 1 July 2024, so public nuisance is now section 270 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the magistrate's order to remove it section 152 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. Since 1 April 2024 most contraventions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 attract penalties imposed by an adjudicating officer, appealable to the National Green Tribunal, instead of prosecution. Coastal questions are answered on the CRZ Notification, 2019, and an amendment in force from 7 September 2023 takes coastal aquaculture outside its prohibitions. The Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025 took effect on 9 April 2025, and the punishments under sections 51 to 53 were cut from 15 May 2026. And Vanashakti v. Union of India, 29 July 2026, holds that prior environmental clearance is mandatory and that regularisation after the event can only be narrow and time-bound.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as the University of Mumbai set it at the 2019 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2019 examination, reproduced as the University of Mumbai set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 7 questions answered
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.
1.Discuss salient features of E. P. Act, 1986. Elaborate the Powers of Central Government to take measures to protect and improve environment.[25]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the question asks first for the salient features, then for the power of the Central Government "to take measures to protect and improve environment", which is the marginal heading of section 3. So describe the features as the design choices that make this Act different from the Water and Air Acts, stated as the law now stands after the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023. Then elaborate section 3 itself: the general power in sub-section (1), each of the fourteen heads in sub-section (2) with an instrument made under or implementing it, and the authorities under sub-section (3). Finish with what the courts have said about the limits of that power.
The Act in its setting
The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Act 29 of 1986, was passed under Article 253 to implement the decisions of the Stockholm Conference of 1972, and came into force on 19 November 1986. The Water Act of 1974 and the Air Act of 1981 had each dealt with one medium through a Board; neither dealt with hazardous substances, and the Bhopal gas leak of December 1984 showed how little existing law could do when a chemical escaped. Parliament's answer was not a longer code but a short general statute of twenty-six sections that gives the Central Government wide powers and leaves the detail to rules and notifications.
The salient features
1. A framework statute. The Act contains almost no standards, limits or zones of its own. It creates powers, and the operative law is found in the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 and in notifications such as the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019 and the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026.
2. Nationwide and overriding. Section 1(2) extends it to the whole of India, and section 24, substituted in 2023, gives the Act and the rules and orders under it effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent in any other law. That makes it the umbrella over the sectoral environmental statutes.
3. Definitions drawn to include everything. Environment in section 2(a) includes water, air and land and their inter-relationship with human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organisms and property; an environmental pollutant in section 2(b) is any substance present in a concentration that may be, or tend to be, injurious; and hazardous substance in section 2(e) is defined by its properties or handling.
4. Central power with local delivery. Sections 3 to 6 vest power in the Central Government, section 3(3) lets it create authorities, section 4 lets it appoint officers, and section 23 lets it delegate most powers to State Governments, Boards and officers.
5. Law made by notification after consultation. Restrictions on the location of industries are imposed by notification under section 3 read with rule 5 of the 1986 Rules, which requires a draft, objections within the prescribed period and a final notification, subject to dispensation in the public interest.
6. Prevention through two prohibitions and an accident duty. Section 7 forbids emission or discharge beyond prescribed standards; section 8 forbids handling hazardous substances except in accordance with prescribed procedures and safeguards; and section 9 obliges the person responsible to prevent or mitigate an accidental discharge and inform the authorities, with remedial costs recoverable from that person.
7. Investigation machinery. Entry, inspection and seizure under section 10, sampling under section 11, laboratories and Government Analysts under sections 12 to 14, and the power to call for information under section 20.
8. A civil penalty model since 1 April 2024. The 2023 amendment replaced imprisonment with penalties imposed by adjudicating officers under sections 14A to 15C, created the Environmental Protection Fund under section 16, and made failure to pay a penalty the only offence, under section 15F.
9. Doors for the citizen and the Tribunal. Under section 19(b) any person may complain to a court after sixty days' notice to the authorities, section 5A gives an appeal to the National Green Tribunal against directions, and section 15D gives an appeal against penalty orders.
10. Protection for official action. Section 18 protects action in good faith, section 21 makes members of authorities public servants, and section 22 bars civil courts from entertaining suits about anything done under the Act.
A feature often missed. The Act confers powers on the Central Government but places almost no duty on it to exercise them. Much of the history of the Act is therefore the history of courts and citizens pressing the Government to use powers it already had.
Section 3(1): the general power
Section 3(1) provides that, subject to the provisions of the Act, the Central Government shall have the power to take all such measures as it deems necessary or expedient for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing, controlling and abating environmental pollution. Three features of the wording matter. The power is general, not tied to any medium or industry. The satisfaction is subjective, so review asks whether the Government acted within the Act, for its purposes and on relevant considerations. And the power is "subject to the provisions of this Act", so it must be exercised through the procedures the Act and its Rules prescribe, including rule 5 when areas are restricted.
A measure under section 3 may be an order, a programme, a direction or a notification with the force of subordinate legislation. Because notifications under section 3 are delegated legislation, the Central Government may amend them under section 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, which is how the coastal and assessment notifications have been amended many times.
Section 3(2): the fourteen heads and what has been done under them
Sub-section (2) says the measures may include measures on the matters listed, "in particular, and without prejudice to the generality" of sub-section (1). The list illustrates the general power rather than exhausting it.
| Clause | Matter | Instrument or practice under or implementing it |
|---|---|---|
| (i) | Coordination of action by States, officers and authorities under this Act or any related law | Directions to States and Boards; coordination of sectoral regimes |
| (ii) | A nationwide programme against pollution | The Ecomark Rules, 2024 recite clause (ii) with section 3(1) among their sources |
| Clause | Matter | Instrument or practice under or implementing it |
|---|---|---|
| (iii) | Standards for environmental quality | Ambient air quality standards in Schedule VII, applied through rule 3(3B) |
| (iv) | Emission and discharge standards, with different standards for different sources | Industry-specific standards in Schedule I and general standards in Schedule VI |
| (v) | Restriction of areas where industries or processes may not be carried on or only with safeguards | Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006; Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019; eco-sensitive zone notifications |
| (vi) | Procedures and safeguards to prevent accidents, and remedial measures | Implemented through the Chemical Accidents (Emergency Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules, 1996, made under sections 6, 8 and 25 |
| Clause | Matter | Instrument or practice under or implementing it |
|---|---|---|
| (vii) | Procedures and safeguards for handling hazardous substances | Implemented through the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 and the hazardous waste rules, made under sections 6, 8 and 25 |
| (viii) | Examination of processes, materials and substances likely to pollute | Technical scrutiny by the Ministry and the Central Pollution Control Board |
| (ix) | Investigations and research on pollution | Studies commissioned from national institutes |
| (x) | Inspection of premises and plant, and directions to authorities, officers or persons | Inspections by empowered officers, with directions under section 5 |
| (xi) | Establishment or recognition of environmental laboratories | Laboratories recognised under section 12 |
| Clause | Matter | Instrument or practice under or implementing it |
|---|---|---|
| (xii) | Collection and dissemination of information | Environmental data and publication duties, such as the portals required by later rules |
| (xiii) | Manuals, codes and guides | Technical guidelines issued by the Ministry and the Central Board |
| (xiv) | Any other matter necessary for effective implementation | Residual power; rules such as the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026 invoke section 3 alongside sections 6 and 25 |
Clause (v) has been the most consequential. Through it the Central Government regulates land use on the entire coastline and requires prior clearance for listed projects anywhere in India, although land and planning are otherwise State subjects.
Section 3(3): authorities to exercise the power
Section 3(3) allows the Central Government, by order in the Official Gazette, to constitute authorities to exercise such of its powers and functions as the order specifies, including the power to issue directions under section 5, subject to its supervision and control. The coastal zone management authorities and the State environment impact assessment authorities are its best-known products.
How precisely powers can be conferred. In S. Jagannath v. Union of India, (1997) 2 SCC 87, where intensive shrimp farms were salinising drinking water and destroying mangroves on India's coasts, chiefly in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court directed the Central Government to constitute an authority under section 3(3) before 15 January 1997, headed by a retired Judge of a High Court, with the power of direction under section 5 and power to take measures on clauses (v), (vi), (vii), (viii), (ix), (x) and (xii) of section 3(2). The judgment is a working demonstration of how the heads of section 3(2) can be selected and handed to a specialised body.
The limits of the power: what the courts have said
A measure under section 3 does not silently undo a court's directions. In Mahesh Vijay Bedekar v. State of Maharashtra, decided by the Bombay High Court on 29 August 2017, the Court had earlier given final directions on silence zones under the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, which rest on the Act's rule-making and general powers. When the Central Government amended the Rules by a notification of 10 August 2017, the State argued that the silence zone directions had become inoperative. The Bench expressed the prima facie view, subject to further argument, that they had not, because the directions were not founded only on the deleted provision, and that the State would have to apply for review or modification; the question was not finally decided in that order. On that view, an exercise of delegated power changes the rule but does not by itself erase judicial directions.
The power must be exercised by a proper instrument, narrowly and for public interest. In Vanashakti v. Union of India, 2026 INSC 761, decided on 29 July 2026, the Supreme Court examined how the Central Government had dealt with projects that began without prior environmental clearance. It held that the prior clearance regime under the 2006 notification is mandatory; that section 3, read with section 21 of the General Clauses Act, empowers the Central Government to issue a narrowly tailored, time-bound amnesty notification in supervening public interest, and the 2017 notification opening a six-month window was valid on that basis; but that the office memorandum of 7 July 2021, an administrative instruction creating a perpetual route to clearance, impermissibly supplanted delegated legislation, lacked an intelligible differentia and violated Articles 14 and 21. It was quashed with prospective effect, existing clearances were saved unless individually challenged, and the Government was restrained from granting such clearances by administrative orders in future.
Taken together. The general power in section 3 is wide enough to create whole regulatory regimes, but it is subject to the Act's procedures, must be exercised by notification rather than executive instruction where it alters delegated legislation, must be proportionate, and operates alongside rather than above the orders of courts.
Conclusion. The salient features of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 are those of a framework statute: nationwide reach and overriding effect, all-embracing definitions, central power delivered locally through authorities and delegation, law made by notification after consultation, preventive prohibitions in sections 7 and 8, an accident duty, investigative powers, and since 2024 a civil penalty model with access to the National Green Tribunal. Its centre is section 3, which gives the Central Government power to take all measures it deems necessary to protect and improve the environment, illustrated by fourteen heads from standards and area restrictions to hazardous substances, inspection and information, and supported by the power to create authorities that S. Jagannath shows can be tailored clause by clause. Bedekar and Vanashakti show the limits: the power is broad, but it must be exercised through lawful instruments, narrowly and in the public interest.
The rest of the answers
The first answer is free. The rest are part of LL.M. Environment and Legal Order Semester 3.
You have read the paper as it was set and the first model answer in full. The remaining answers come with the bundle, along with every other solved paper for this semester.
See the semester for ₹798 Already bought it? Sign in
Or just the solved papers: ₹499
The question paper itself stays free, as does the syllabus and module one of every subject.
Found an error in this volume? Report it and we will check it against the paper.