Journal Articles

Public Interest Environmental Litigation in India: Exploring Issues of Access, Participation, Equity, Effectiveness and Sustainability

Lavanya Rajamani

Journal of Environmental Law

January 2, 2007

The power of public interest litigation in India lies in its freedom from the constraints of traditional judicial proceedings. The ability of public-spirited individuals to use the Supreme Court as a fulcrum to leverage public policy is perceived as a testament to Indian democracy. But public interest environmental litigation raises important issues concerning access, participation, effectiveness and sustainability in the sense of the durability of the solutions reached. These questions are explored and assessed based on a detailed consideration of two leading environmental cases, the Delhi Vehicle Pollution case and the Municipal Solid Waste Case. Analysis is based both on the actual decisions themselves and interviews with the key actors involved, and other interests affected by the outcomes. In both cases, judicial oversight stimulated slumbering institutions and changes in policy. But the Court has over time developed into a policy evolution forum, with political, social and economic questions, not usually determined by judges in other countries, being decided as a matter of course by the Indian Supreme Court. Yet despite best intentions, the Court may have set in motion processes that were less than participatory, and which arguably led to solutions that were therefore less than fair, just and impartial to all stake-holders. These concerns, real and perceived, reveal a certain disaffection with the judicial process that needs to be addressed if public interest litigation is to be both effective and equitable.

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