(IN): SC judge for liberal environment laws

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SC judge for liberal environment laws

 

Sampad Mahapatra

Thursday, December 20, 2007 (Bhubaneshwar)

Bad news for the NGOs and people seeking judicial support in their

fight to protect forests and wildlife against large-scale incursions

by industrial and mining projects.

 

In a public speech on Tuesday in Bhubaneswar, senior Supreme Court

judge and member of the Environment and Forest Bench, Justice Arijit

Pasayat has come down heavily on those who focus too much on

protection of forest and wildlife and harm the society at large.

 

Justice Pasayat, who was inaugurating a three-day seminar on

environmental laws also seemed to favour their liberal application.

 

''We were told two weeks back that out of more than 300 Reserve

Forests in the country, hardly 20 or 25 deserve to be called as

reserve forests. In more than hundred of them, the only animals to be

protected are probably a few stray cattle and a few dogs,'' said

Justice Arijit Pasayat, Judge, Supreme Court of India.

 

''And then the money that the Central government pays for protection

of these reserve forests goes elsewhere,'' he added.

 

Arguing that industrial development was needed for the growth of the

country's economy, Justice Arijit Pasayat, who is also part of the

Environment and Forest Bench, saw a need to take a liberal view of the

existing environmental laws.

 

''Green cover versus green currency. We have to choose between the two

and strike a balance. We can not also enforce the laws in a way that

they become Draconian, otherwise, in the name of protecting forests we

will cause damage to the society at large,'' said Justice Pasayat.

 

But not everyone agreed with the judge's views. Top legal experts felt

such an approach can never offer environmental justice.

 

''The adversarial system is ill-suited for environmental justice. We

need to think differently from one being part of the problem and the

other being part of the solution,'' said Ramesh, Professor, National

Law School, Bangalore.

''Human being is both the protector and the predator. His predatory

instincts are far more now than his protective instincts. I think we

need to rekindle his protective instincts,'' he added.

 

Justice Pasayat was in the three-member apex court bench that recently

set aside the adverse remarks by its own expert committee and allowed

the mining of bauxite in the ecologically sensitive Niyamgiri Hills in

Kalahandi district.

 

And, now his public speech leaves little hope for those who believe

the green cover and wildlife, in a state like Orissa, are under the

gravest threat ever.