Courts must not suspect every development project of having environmental concerns: CJI Surya Kant

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday remarked that courts cannot afford to view every developmental project as suspect due to environmental concerns.

Such a stance will impede legitimate developmental aspirations of the country, he opined.

CJI Kant was speaking at the Punjab and Haryana High Court before inaugurating a refurbished library in honour of Justice Kuldip Singh, a former Supreme Court judge, who came to be known a India's green judge for his seminal judgments on environmental protection.

CJI Kant distinguished the times in which Justice Singh delivered the decisions and the present.

"To appreciate the significance of this body of work, we must remember the economic context in which it was delivered. In late 90s and 80s, India was entering an aggressive phase of industrialization and liberalization. The judiciary had a genuine apprehension that growth and infrastructure may not come at the cost of rivers, forest and air. At that time, environmental regulations were still relatively new. Impact assessments, public hearings, scientific baselines were not as robust as they are today. In that setting, strong right-based environmental jurisprudence was not only natural but necessary. It served as a counterweight to unregulated exploitation," CJI Kant said.

He added that the judiciary today cannot afford to be reactive.

"Today the context has largely changed. India has become the world's 5th largest economy. Our population has increased sharply, aspirations have multiplied. Yet the quantum of natural resources is broadly the same. The challenge before the judiciary in today's phase is slightly different. We cannot afford a tunnel visions that treats every project as suspect, nor we can afford a complacent vision that treats environmental safeguards as negotiable. Our task is to move from purely reactive model to a more mature environmental governance model that integrates environmental safeguards into the very design of development," CJI Kant said.

CJI Kant further said that the judiciary must continue to serve as a constitutional sentinel in matters concerning the environment but its role must not be to substitute policy choices or impede legitimate development aspirations that are pursued within framework of law.

"The task before the courts is therefore one of careful constitutional balance ensuring environmental laws are enforced with seriousness, while recognising sustainable development remains an integral part of constitutional vision," CJI Kant added.

CJI Kant further said that the focus today is shifting from merely addressing environmental harm after it has occurred to ensuring that the development is itself conceived and implemented in a manner that minimises the risk of such harm.

"The judiciary in that sense has gone beyond mere saying 'if you pollute you will pay', rather now it asks have you done everything reasonably possible to avoid polluting in the first phase itself," he said.

The burden is increasing on the project proponent to demonstrate strict compliance, CJI Kant further said.

"Our task today is to carry forward that template, in context of new technologies and new economic models, to ensure that law does not lag too far behind scientific realities," he added.