Codifying Accountability: Corporate Environmental Crime And The Limits Of Indian Legal System
- IJLLR Journal
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Hannah Deena James, School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
ABSTRACT
Industrial production is a mainstay of economic growth in India; however, the externalities of industrial activities are becoming less tenable. Industrial pollution continues to cause damage to air, water, and land resources and cause substantial damage to public health, despite a comprehensive statutory framework and regulatory bodies. The main tools of enforcing environmental regulations are civil, administrative, and quasi-criminal penalties under various statutes such as the Water Act, the Air Act, and the Environment Protection Act. However, these legislations have not been effective in holding corporate polluters accountable. The aim of corporates addressing environmental damage is mere regulatory compliance and not criminal culpability. Moreover, penalties are seen merely as a business expense rather than a deterrent. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 is a new opportunity to re-examine the issue of corporate criminal liability; however, it does not provide a codified framework for environmental crimes by corporations.
At the same time, the regulatory environment of the stock market has introduced enhanced environmental reporting requirements through the SEBI Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) regime, BRSR Core, and green debt guidelines to prevent greenwashing of corporate practices. Although this is a positive development, it does not provide a framework of corporate criminal liability for environmental damage.
This paper is a critique of India's constitutional and statutory framework on environmental law, the development of corporate criminal liability, and the lacunae of the existing framework. It compares the efficacy of the disclosure- based governance regime with the absence of codified environmental crimes within the general criminal law framework. It draws on lessons from the United States experience of environmental crimes and advocates a codified framework of corporate environmental crimes, attributability of crimes to corporations, sentencing based on corporate gain and environmental damage caused, and a holistic approach to the interrelation of criminal law, securities law, and environmental law.
Keywords: Corporate criminal liability, Environmental harm, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, SEBI BRSR, Greenwashing
