'Natural resources belong to mankind'
Recent media reports indicate that the Supreme Court is now proactive on environmental issues.
Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to life to which nobody can be deprived of except by the law. Besides Article 21, there are many laws on the environmental issues. Parliament has enacted a central legislation, the Forest Conservation Act, which basically requires that no forest land shall be diverted for non-forest purposes except with the written approval of the central government (ministry of environment). This law is applicable throughout the country.
The judiciary's role has to be there. These are the laws and constitutional guarantees. Whenever it is found that there has been violation of the laws or of the Constitution, directions have been issued by the court to implement those laws and it is in that sense the court has been pro-active. One has to issue the direction and leave it at that.
In some cases whenever court finds it necessary it issues continuous mandamus day-to-day and ensure implementation, then a monitoring committee comprising experts is appointed.
Such monitoring is necessary in matters of environment to preserve the natural resources -- be it air, water, land or forest as all these natural resources belong to mankind, also not for today as it goes to future generations.
We just can't say we cut off the entire forests and leave nothing for the future. It has an impact on the climate change as well.
In this the role of the Supreme Court has to ensure the implementation of the laws. It is the duty engrained on the court to interpret the laws, to issue directions for implementation whenever and wherever implementation is lacking. Had there been proper implementation the orders of the Supreme Court wouldn't have been necessary.
Image: Skyscrapers stand cheek-by-jowl with an expanse of slums in Mumbai. Town planners cite rampant reclamation and misuse of no-development zones as some of the reasons for the floods which claimed nearly 400 lives during the torrential downpour on July 26, 2005.
Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images