Expanding Horizons Of Article 21: The Right To Life As A Right To A Clean And Sustainable Environment In India

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Hriday Sukhani, BBA LLB, Symbiosis Law School, Pune

Shashi Singh, BA LLB, KES JP Law College, Mumbai

ABSTRACT

Indian environmental jurisprudence is one of the most developed constitutional rights in the history of modern law. Article 21 of the Constitution of India that initially was understood as a safeguard against capricious deprivation of life and personal liberty has gradually undergone judicial interpretation as a wide assurance of dignified living, including of an environmental well being. The paper is an analysis of the right to the clean and healthy environment that forms part of the right to life. It examines the theoretical strength and drawbacks of environmental protection in India through review of historic court decisions, constitution, and foreign factors. The recent Kharghar gas leak case is employed as a modern prism to point out the existing disconnect between ideals and reality in the law. Although the judiciary has propounded doctrines like the Polluter Pays Principle, the Precautionary Principle, and Sustainable Development, the fact that implementation of these mechanisms has been recurrently unsuccessful casts critical questions on how it should be done. The paper will end by highlighting the necessity of a move towards reactive environmental governance, to preventive and participatory models to bring constitutional pledges and ground realities closer.

156. EXPANDING HORIZONS OF ARTICLE 21- THE RIGHT TO LIFE AS A RIGHT TO A CLEAN AND SUSTAIN

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