Environment, Labour & Social Justice

1985

Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra v. State of UP

The first environmental PIL

On a letter from an NGO in Dehradun about limestone quarrying that was devastating the Mussoorie hills, the Supreme Court ordered many quarries to be closed, accepting that the loss to business had to be borne as the price of protecting the environment. It is regarded as India's first environmental public interest litigation.

• Limestone quarrying in the Doon Valley.
• First environmental PIL in India.

1987–1988

M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (Ganga Pollution)

Tanneries of Kanpur

In a PIL by lawyer M.C. Mehta, the Supreme Court ordered tanneries in Kanpur that discharged effluents into the Ganga to set up primary treatment plants or shut down, and later directed the Kanpur municipal authorities to act. It held that the financial capacity of the tanneries was irrelevant.

1996

M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (Taj Trapezium Case)

Saving the Taj Mahal

Emissions from industries around Agra were turning the marble of the Taj Mahal yellow. The Supreme Court directed 292 coal- and coke-based industries in the Taj Trapezium Zone (about 10,400 sq km around the monument) to switch to natural gas or relocate. Justice Kuldip Singh wrote the judgment.

• Taj Trapezium Zone: about 10,400 sq km.
• 292 industries were directed to switch fuel or relocate.

1996

Vellore Citizens' Welfare Forum v. Union of India

Precaution and "polluter pays"

Tanneries in Tamil Nadu were polluting the Palar river and groundwater. The Supreme Court held that the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle are part of the law of the land, and that sustainable development is an accepted principle of Indian environmental law.

• Precautionary principle and polluter pays adopted into Indian law.

1996

Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action v. Union of India (Bichhri)

Paying to clean up

Chemical industries in Bichhri village, Rajasthan, left toxic sludge that poisoned wells and land. The Court applied the polluter pays principle and held the companies absolutely liable to pay the cost of remediating the damage.