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According legal identity to natural resources: approach towards environment protection

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Abstract

Protection of the environment is an issue upon which every stakeholder agrees, it is however the issue of ascertaining the effective approach towards the same that has beleaguered policy makers and academicians alike. Tremendous progress has been made in terms of developing principles like polluter pays, sustainable development, precautionary principles, and with the development of the public participation principle it seems that the next logical step would be a democratization of the means of protecting the environment. The approach in designating legal status to natural resources can be a major breakthrough in furthering that objective. The Indian High Court of Uttarakhand has ushered in that reform with parallels from the jurisdictions of New Zealand, and Ecuador also leading the way. The approach entails bestowing rights on natural resources and thereby allows people to initiate actions on its behalf and seek redressal. While the practical modalities and the substantive impact of this approach remains to be seen, what is pivotal is that currently the move may make the deviant corporations and governments more responsive towards their actions on account of the improved access to the Courts due to the ease of the rules for establishing locus standi.

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Notes

  1. Mohd. Salim v. State of Uttarakhand and Ors., MANU/UC/0050/2017 [Hereinafter Salim Ruling].

  2. Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act (2017).

  3. Erin O’ Donnell & Julia Talbot-Jones, Three Rivers are Now Legally People- But That’s Just the Start of Looking After Them, The Conversation, Mar. 24, 2017, https://theconversation.com/amp/three-rivers-are-now-legally-people-but-thats-just-the-start-of-looking-after-them-74983.

  4. Salim Ruling, supra note 2.

  5. Lalit Miglani v. State of Uttarakhand, MANU/UC/0067/2017 [Hereinafter Lalit Miglani].

  6. Salim Ruling, supra note 2, at ¶19.

  7. Lalit Miglani, supra note 5, at ¶65.

  8. Salim Ruling, supra note 2, at ¶11, ¶17.

  9. Salim Ruling, supra note 2, at ¶19.

  10. Lalit Miglani v. State of Uttarakhand and Ors., MANU/UC/0202/2016 [Hereinafter Lalit I].

  11. Lalit Miglani, supra note 5, at ¶51.

  12. Lalit Miglani, supra note 5, at ¶65.

  13. INDIA CONT., art. 51A, cl. (g).

  14. Ashish Kothari & Shrishtee Bajpai, Rivers and Human Rights: We are the River, the River is Us?, 52 E.P.W., no. 37, 2017.

  15. Bryant Smith, Legal Personality, 37 Yale L. J., no. 3, 1928, at 283; Salmond, Jurisprudence 272 (5th ed. 1916).

  16. 4 Roscoe Pound, Jurisprudence 191 (1959).

  17. 5 Roscoe Pound, Jurisprudence, 192-3 (1959).

  18. Prathama Nath Mullick v. Pradyumna Kumar Mullick, (1925) 27 BOMLR 1064.

  19. G.W. Paton, A Textbook Of Jurisprudence 349-350 (3rd ed.1951).

  20. Shriomani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar v. Shri Som Nath Dass, A.I.R. 2000 SC 1421, at ¶13.

  21. The Companies Act 2013, Act No. 18, S.9.

  22. Gopal Singh Visharad (Ayodhya Case) v. Zahoor Ahmad, MANU/UP/1185/2010.

  23. A.I.R. 1925 PC 139.

  24. Shriomani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar v. Shri Som Nath Dass, A.I.R. 2000 SC 1421.

  25. Hindu Religious Endowments Board v. Veeraraghavacharlu, A.I.R. 1937 Mad 750.

  26. Shriomani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Amritsar v. Shri Som Nath Dass, A.I.R. 2000 SC 1421, at ¶25, 26, 29.

  27. See e.g, M.C. Mehta v. U.O.I. & Others, (1996) 4 S.C.C. 750; M.C. Mehta v. U.O.I. & Others, (1997) 11 S.C.C. 327; M.C. Mehta v. U.O.I. & Others, (1999) 2 S.C.C. 91; Workmen of M/s. Birla Textiles v. K.K. Birla & Others, (1999) 3 S.C.C. 475; M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath & Others, (2000) 6 S.C.C. 213.

  28. Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar & Others, (1991) 1 S.C.C. 598.

  29. Olga Tellis & Others v. Bombay Municipal Corporation & Others, MANU/SC/0039/1985 [Hereinafter Olga Tellis].

  30. Id. at ¶32.

  31. Dr S Muralidhar, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: An Indian Response to Justiciability Debate, in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Practice: The Role of Judges in Implementing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 23, (Yash Ghai & Jill Cottrell eds., 2004).

  32. Instances like in the case of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, (1997) 6 S.C.C. 241, where in absence of any statute in addressing the issue of sexual harassment of women at workplace, the Supreme Court interpreted Article 21 along with 14, 15, 19 and Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to constitute any such crime as violation of Fundamental Rights. Other Instances like Right to education till 14 years as part of Right following from Right to Life as held in the case of Unnikrishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh, (1993) 1 S.C.C. 645, also in the case of Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar, (1980) 1 S.C.C. 81, the Supreme Court held that Article 39A, a DPSP providing for Right to Free Legal Aid, as explaining the content and scope of Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, hence enforceable.

  33. Virender Gaur & Others v. State of Haryana & Others, (1995) 2 S.C.C. 577 [Hereinafter Virender Gaur].

  34. The Constitution of India, art 48A states: “The State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wild life of the country.” INDIA CONST., art. 48A.

  35. The Constitution of India, art 51A- (g) states: “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India- (g) to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures.” INDIA CONST., art. 51A, clause (g).

  36. Virender Gaur, supra note 33, at ¶7.

  37. Virender Gaur, supra note 33, at ¶7.

  38. Lalit Miglani, supra note 5, at ¶13;

    Rivers Ganges and Yamuna are worshipped by Hindus. These rivers are very sacred and revered. The Hindus have a deep spiritual connection with Rivers Ganges & Yamuna. According to Hindu beliefs, a dip in River Ganga can wash away all the sins. The Ganga is also called ‘Ganga Maa’. It finds mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures including ‘Rigveda’. The river Ganga originates from Gaumukh Glacier and River Yamuna originates from Yamnotri Glacier.

    Salim Ruling, supra note 2, at ¶11.

  39. Christopher D. Stone, Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects, 45 S. Cal. L. Rev. 450, 456 (1972).

  40. Renata Colwell, Savannah Carr-Wilson, Legal Personality of Natural Features: Recent International Developments and Applicability in Canada, University of Victoria (Sept. 2017), http://www.elc.uvic.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2017-02-03-LegalPersonalityNatural-Features_web-version.pdf [Hereinafter Renata]; Cormac Cullinan, Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, (2011).

  41. Renata, supra note 40.

  42. Renata, supra note 40; Meg Good, The River as a Legal Person: Evaluating Nature Rights-Based Approaches to Environmental Protection in Australia, Nat. Env. L. Rev., no. 1, 2013, at 34, 36 [Hereinafter Good].

  43. Gwendolyn J. Gordon, Environment Personhood, 43 Columbia Jour. of Env. Law, no. 1, 2018, at 50, 58 [Hereinafter Gordon].

  44. Id. at 58; Rights of Nature: Timeline, Community Env. Legal Def. Fund (Nov. 9, 2016), http://celdf.org/rights/rights-of-nature/rights-nature-timeline/.

  45. See Aotearoa, https://www.maori.com/aotearoa (last visited on March 19, 2019).

  46. Renata, supra note 40; Charles Dawson, Learning with the River: On Intercultural Gifts from the Whanganui in Ecological Entanglements in the Anthropocene (Nicholas Holm & Sy Taffel eds., 2017) 35 at 38.

  47. Renata, supra note 40; Carwyn Jones, New Treaty, New Tradition: Reconciling New Zealand and Māori Law 21 (2016).

  48. Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act, 2017, No. 7, S.12.

  49. Id. at S.14(1).

  50. Id. at S.13.

  51. Renata, supra note 40.

  52. James DK Morris & Jacinta Ruru, Giving Voice to Rivers: Legal Personality as a Vehicle for Recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Relationships to Water?, 14 AILR, no. 2, 2010, at 49, 50, 54; Renata, supra note 40, at 9.

  53. Id.

  54. Supra note 47, at S.56 read with Schedule 5(1).

  55. Renata, supra note 40, at 12.

  56. THE ECUADOREAN CONST., art. 71, 1.

  57. Id. at ¶2.

  58. Renata, supra note 40, at 20; Sofia Suárez, Defending Nature: Challenges and obstacles in defending the rights of nature: Case Study of the Vilcabamba River, Energia Y Clima, Aug. 2013, at 3.

  59. Renata, supra note 40, at 20; David R Boyd, The Rights of Nature: A Legal Revolution That Could Save the World 163 (2017) [Hereinafter David].

  60. Renata, supra note 40, at 20.

  61. Renata, supra note 40, at 22; Acción de tutela interpuesta por el Centro de Estudios para la Justicia Social Tierra Digna y otros c Presidencia de la República y otros, T-622 de 2016, Columbia Constitutional Court (Nov. 10, 2016).

  62. Nick Mount, Can a River Have Legal Rights? A Different Approach to Protecting the Environment, Independent, Oct. 13, 2017, https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/river-legal-rights-colombia-environment-pacific-rainforest-atrato-river-rio-quito-a7991061.html.

  63. Id.

  64. Renata, supra note 40, at 22; David, supra note 59, at 225- 6.

  65. Renata, supra note 40, at 24, Laura Villa, The Importance of the Atrato River in Colombia Gaining Legal Rights, Earth Law Center (May 5, 2017), https://www.earthlawcenter.org/blog-entries/2017/5/the-importance-of-the-atrato-river-in-colombia-gaining-legal-rights.

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    Akaant Mittal

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Mittal, A. According legal identity to natural resources: approach towards environment protection. Jindal Global Law Review 10, 7–18 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41020-019-00084-3

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