Supreme Court Judge Advocates Judicial Activism on Climate Change Challenges
Last Updated on November 5, 2024 by Amit Patra
The Supreme Court Justice B.V. Nagarathna made a clarion call for the courts to take up a more proactive role in addressing the legal complexities that accompany climate change, calling upon the judiciary to adopt creative interpretation of the existing laws so as to safeguard environmental rights.
Justice Nagarathna, while delivering the 4th GL Sanghi Memorial Lecture at the Maharashtra National Law University, said the influence of climate change is multi-sectoral- from affecting public health and food security to disrupting natural ecosystems. Importantly, she made a reference to the recent landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in MK Ranjitsinh vs. Union of India, wherein the people’s “right against adverse effects of climate change” was held to fall within the ambit of the fundamental right to life under Article 21.
Thus, the judge traced the growth of environmental jurisprudence in India by referring to landmark cases such as MC Mehta v. Union of India and Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar, where courts have been holding consistently that the right to an environment free from pollution is a part of the right to life. However, she underlined that it is time that the judiciary went beyond the traditional anthropocentric approach to an eco-centric one, focusing on intrinsic values in nature.
Justice Nagarathna balanced between development and the need for environmental protection and explained that constitutional courts have a duty to see that such developmental proposals by the executive ensure minimum harm to the ecosystem. She appreciated that the necessary climate change impact assessments should be mandatorily made for mammoth projects, continuing to develop the new branch of attribution studies in the field of science, linking human activities with observable changes in climate.
She went on to call significantly for recognition of the fundamental duty provided in Article 51-A(g) of the Constitution to have compassion for all living creatures. She stressed that environmental justice cannot be achieved by way of laws alone but has to find a place in the individual minds and actions of citizens to preserve health of the planet earth.
Justice Nagarathna’s clarion call for judicial activism in the face of challenges thrown up by climate change reminds one at an opportune moment that courts have to play a significant role in shaping environmental jurisprudence, besides protecting the basic rights of the present and future generations. She pressed for creative legal interpretation and an eco-centric approach, underlining the urgent need for a transformative shift in the way the judiciary addresses the many-pronged assault of the climate crisis.
