TOI: A special bench for environmental issues: April 28, 2008

In another case that dealt with the woes of people living around chemical plants, the SC said that states should work towards setting up ‘environment courts’ that will specialise in cases that deal with environmental pollution and hazards. The idea behind the order was that over a period of time judges dealing with purely ecological matters will develop not only the specialisation needed to deal with such issues but also become more sensitive towards the threat posed to a clean environment in the country. 

Environmental activists in the city are now wondering if it would be a good idea to establish a full-fledged ‘Green Bench’ in the Bombay high court as well which recently saw the induction of eight new judges. While they all agreed that tremendous work has been done by two benches that hear a range of ‘green cases’ filed in the court as PILs, they also argued that a special bench will act as a shot in the arm for those who have been battling rampant industrial growth taking place in the city at the cost of the environment.

“A dedicated Green Bench would mean judges will become familiar with the problems peculiar to the city as they hear more and more such litigation,’’ said Debi Goenka of BEAG. “Many times we have seen that by the time the chief justice starts going into the nitty-gritties of a case he is elevated to the Supreme Court,’’ he added. “However, with a Green Bench, you will have judges who understand the geography and topography of the state as environmental problems are brought before them,’’ Goenka said. 

Samir Mehta, an activist, saw an advantage of a full-time ‘Green Bench’ in the fact that it will help speed up the disposal of environmental cases. “An exclusive court will be able to give more time to listen to these cases and thus they will be decided quickly,’’ Mehta said.

However, advocate Gautam Patel, who has fought several environmental cases, felt that the present system was working well. “The PILs that are heard are mostly to do with environmental matters and at present there are two benches in the high court to deal with them,’’ Patel said. “We also have to consider that there is such a severe shortage of judges that if an exclusive court for green matters is set up then other litigants will suffer,’’ he added. 

Patel added that most environmental cases were brought to the high court as writ petitions and the regular benches were dealing with matters as diverse as hazards posed by bio-medical wastes to those involving town planning. “The problem arises when the governmental agencies that are meant to implement the court orders are lax in doing so and environment continues  to suffer,’’ Patel said.

From the Supreme Court 

We, therefore, request the Chief Justice of the Madras high court to constitute a special bench ‘Green bench’ to deal with this case and other environmental matters. We make it clear that it would be open to the Bench to pass any appropriate order/orders keeping in view the directions issued by us. We may mention that ‘Green Benches’ are already functioning in Calcutta, Madhya Pradesh and some other HCs.

The suggestion for establishment of environment courts is a commendable one. Experience shows that the prosecutions launched in ordinary criminal courts under the provisions of the Water Act, Air Act and Environment Act never reach their conclusion either because of the workload in those courts or because there is no proper appreciation of the significance of the environment matters on the part of those in charge of conducting those cases. Moreover, any orders passed by the authorities under Water and Air Acts and the Environment Act are immediately questioned by the industries in courts. Those proceedings take years and years to reach a conclusion. Very often, interim orders are granted which effectively disable the authorities from ensuring the implementation of their orders. All this points to the need for creating environment courts which alone should be empowered to deal with all matters, civil and criminal, relating to environment. These courts should be manned by legally trained persons/judicial officers and should be allowed to adopt summary procedures
—INDIAN COUNCIL FOR ENVIRO-LEGAL   ACTION VS UNION OF INDIA, 1996MUMBAI ORDERS

MANGROVES CASE
In a judgment delivered on October 6, 2007 the Bench of Chief Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Dr D Y Chandrachud left no one in doubt when it said: “There shall be a total freeze on the destruction and cutting of mangroves in the entire state of Maharashtra.’’ The order banned the dumping of debris in mangrove areas (a common underhand way to reclaim land) and forbade “any authority’’ from granting permission for development activity in them. It also banned construction within 50 metres of mangroves.