‘Need to frame statutory laws on environment,development’

The legal experts discussed how the environment needed to be an integral part of the Constitution and keeping in view its degradation; it has become all the more imperative.

Elaborating on the issue,Justice V S Sirpurkar said that legal knowledge about rights and duties should be imparted to schoolchildren.

He pointed out that had people been more aware of their duties than rights,there would have been no need to have Article 51A enlisting out the fundamental duties of citizens. “Since environment was not discussed during the framing of the Constitution,focusing on laws dealing with it has become more essential now,” he said.

In his address,Justice Balakrishnan said the court was shaken out of its conscience to realise the increasing need to have environment-based laws after the Bhopal gas tragedy.

“We need to frame statutory laws on environment and sustainable development. Judicial approach has to be nuanced when it comes to these issues,” he said.

The CJI also explained how the right to clean environment was for the public good and that the judiciary should step in to conserve it.