Environmental Law in India: A Guide for Foreign Researchers and Students

India’s environmental law framework is often studied internationally for one distinctive reason: much of its most consequential doctrine was developed by the Supreme Court itself, through public interest litigation, rather than by the legislature.

The core statutes

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (enacted after the Bhopal gas tragedy) is the umbrella statute, backed by the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 created a specialised tribunal (the NGT) for environmental disputes, giving India one of the world’s more active dedicated environmental courts.

Judge-made doctrine

Comparative environmental law scholars pay particular attention to doctrines the Indian Supreme Court imported and adapted: the “polluter pays” principle and the “precautionary principle” (both read into Article 21’s right to life in cases like Vellore Citizens’ Welfare Forum v. Union of India, 1996), and the public trust doctrine, under which the state holds natural resources like rivers, forests, and the seashore in trust for public use rather than as ordinary property. These doctrines were substantially built through litigation rather than legislation, a judicial-activism feature often contrasted with more legislature-driven environmental regimes elsewhere.

The right to a clean environment

India’s courts have read the right to a clean and healthy environment into Article 21 (right to life), most recently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 2024 as a distinct fundamental right, a move comparative scholars studying the “greening” of constitutional rights (alongside similar developments in Colombia, Costa Rica, and elsewhere) frequently cite.

Where this fits with Lexfolio’s content

Readers researching Indian environmental jurisprudence may also find Lexfolio’s guide on citing Indian case law useful for correctly referencing these landmark judgments.