NAME – RITU RAJ

UID – SM0120043

Q1. The primary job of State Pollution Control Board is to carry out planning comprehensive
programmes, advise the state government, collection of information and dissemination of
information. They also provide standards for the quality of water, evolve methods of
treatment and disposal of sewage along with trade effluents. They also have a job to make,
vary or revoke an order regarding the prevention or control of discharge. In this context they
can also require any person concerned to construct new or modify existing systems for
disposal and to adopt remedial measures necessary for the control of water pollution.

With respect to the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution Act, 1981), the primary functions
of State Pollution Control Board are as follows:

a. The State Pollution Control Board must formulate a comprehensive plan for the
prevention, control, or reduction of air pollution, and also ensure its implementation

b. The State Pollution Control Board must assist and advise the State Government
regarding matter concerning the prevention, control or abatement of air pollution.

c. The State Pollution Control Board must gather and communicate essential
information about pollution in the air.

d. The State Pollution Control Board must work with the Central Board to organise
training for people who are or will be involved in air pollution prevention, control, or
abatement programmes, as well as a mass-education programme on the subject.

e. The State Pollution Control Board also have the responsibility of inspecting any
control equipment, industrial facility, or manufacturing process at all reasonable times
and giving, order to such people as it may deem appropriate to take steps for the
prevention, control, or abatement of air pollution.

f. The State Pollution Control Board must monitor the air pollution control areas at such
intervals as it deems necessary and also analyse the quality of the air in those areas,
and take action to prevent, regulate, or abate air pollution in those areas.
 g. The State Pollution Control Board must perform any duties that may be specified or
assigned to it by the Central Board or the State Government at any time.

h. The State Pollution Control Board must perform acts as it deems appropriate for the
efficient fulfilment of its functions and for the purposes of carrying out the purposes
of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

Q2. The restrictions on new outlets and discharges under Water (Prevention & Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974 are prescribed under Section 25 of the Water (Prevention & Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974.

They are as follows:

a. Without the permission of the State Board no one can formulate steps to set up any
industry, operation or process, or any treatment and disposal system or any extension
that has a potential to discharge sewage or trade effluent into a stream or well or
sewer or on land or bring into use any new or altered outlet for the discharge of
sewage

b. Without the permission of the State Board no one can start to make any new form of
discharge of sewage but the individual who is in the process of taking steps to
establish any industry, operation or process immediately before the commencement of
the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 1988, for which no
consent was mandatory, can continue to do so for a period of three months from the
date of commencement or, if he/she has made an application for such consent, within
the said period of three months, till the disposal of such application.

c. The application for obtaining the consent of the State Board must be made in the
prescribed format along with the payment as prescribed. In this regard the State Board
also has the authority to make any inquiry which it seems necessary for giving the
consent.

d. In a scenario where without obtaining the consent of the State Board, any industry,
any treatment and disposal system, or any extension, has been established, or any
steps for such establishment have been taken, or a new or altered outlet for the
discharge of sewage is brought into use, or a new discharge of sewage is made, the
 State Board has the authority to serve on the person who has established or taken
steps to establish any industry, operation, or process, or any treatment and disposal
system, or any extension.

e. It is the responsibility of Every State Board to maintain a register containing

particulars of the conditions imposed, and so much of the register as relates to any
outlet, or to any effluent from any land or premises, shall be open to inspection at any
person willing to, or affected by, such outlet, land, or premises, as the case may be, or
by any person authorised by him in this behalf, and the conditions so contained in
such register shall be conclusive.

f. The consent unless granted or refused at a previous instance will be assumed to be

granted without any consent after four months of the application submitted to the
concerned State Board.

Q3. Reserve Forests:

a. Reserved Forests are those forests which are owned by Government of India and often
upgraded to the status of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. National Parks are
Wildlife sanctuaries are reserved forest areas in India and home to a large number of
wild animals and birds. Biosphere reserves are large protected areas of natural habitat
where the flora and fauna have full protection.

b. Reserved forests constitute more than half of the total forest area of India. It has a
certain degree of protection. They are protected by the respective state governments
unlike wildlife sanctuaries and national parks which are supervised by the
Government of India. It is considered as the most valuable type of forest from the
perspective of conservation. Rights to activities like collecting timber or grazing cattle
or hunting and public entry are banned in these forests

c. These are permanent forest estates maintained to produce timber and other forest
produce.

d. As the conservation of forest and wildlife is concerned more than 50% of the total
forest land has been declared as reserved forest.
 e. In India, Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forest (75% of the
total forest area) followed by Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Uttaranchal,
Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal

f. Any person indulging in prohibited acts such as setting fire to the forests, hunting,
trespassing, quarrying, fishing and setting traps are liable to be prosecuted. The state.
government can assign any of its rights in a reserved forest to a village community. It
can make rules for the management of such forests," which lay down the conditions
under which the community would be provided with timber or other forest produce,
and also prescribe their responsibilities for the protection and improvement of such
forests

Protected Forest

a. Protected forests are of two types: demarcated and un demarcated. They have a
limited amount of protection. These are looked after by the government but certain
activities like hunting, grazing or timber collecting are allowed to people who live on
the boundaries of forests and are partially or wholly dependent on the forest resources
for livelihood, provided they don’t cause severe damage to the forests.

b. They are forests with some amount of legal and constitutional protection in certain
countries. Here the habitat and resident species are given legal protection against any
further depletion.

c. In protected forests, sometimes the local community has got the rights for activities
like hunting and grazing as they are living on the fringes of the forest because they
sustain their livelihood wholly or partially from forest resources or products.

d. In India, the government has property rights in these forests. This was declared by a
state government under the provisions of section 29 of the Indian forest act 1927.

e.  Almost 1/3 of the total forest area is declared as a protected forest by the forest
department.

f.  Protected forests are often upgraded to wildlife sanctuaries which may further
upgrade to national parks.
 g. In India, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan have the bulk
of their forest, under-protected forest.

Q4. With regards to the Suo Motu Power of National Green Tribunal, the Supreme Court of
India in the case of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai v. Ankita Sinha and others
held that the NGT is authorised to take cognizance on the basis of letters, representations and
media reports. The National Green Tribunal Act of 2010 empowers the NGT to perform
functions other than adjudication. The objective of the Parliament is clear: to establish a
multipurpose organisation capable of dealing with environmental issues. As a result, the
ideals of environmental justice and equality must be openly acknowledged as critical threads
in the NGT's fabric. The NGT must be seen as a unique organisation, rather than a collection
of institutions, and its unique and exclusive role in fostering public interest in the
environmental domain, as defined in the 2010 legislation, must be legally recognised.

The environmental impact on climate change is gaining increasing visibility in recent times
and thus the NGT to have a discretionary Suo motu power to salvage adverse environmental
consequences for generations to come. In this manner, the nature of the evident ecological
imbalance may cascade, and subsequent unforeseeable injustices may not be possible to be
dealt with within the current boundaries. The long-term and often irreversible environmental
damage that the NGT is expected to prevent mandates the applicability of the 'Seventh
Generation' sustainability principle, which requires all decisions to be made for the benefit of
seven generations down the line.

This societal-centric strategy must be allowed to operate within the existing safety valves of
natural justice principles. When faced with exigencies requiring prompt and efficient
response, the NGT's not having this power would render the forum incapable of carrying out
its responsibilities, which must be avoided in the interests of justice.

the NGT is legitimately working within the contours of its statutory mandate and with
procedurals safeguards, the nature of the trigger viz. a letter or a suo motu initiation, cannot
be the basis to curtail the role and responsibility of the specialized forum. The Court has
however, clarified that in exercising Suo motu jurisdiction the NGT shall be bound by the
principles of natural justice and fair play.
Q6. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) principle of
Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC)
recognises that countries (known as Parties) have different duties and abilities to address the
negative effects of climate change, but that all countries have an obligation to address climate
change. In general, public international law is founded on states' formal equality. The notion
of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDRRC)
outlines governments' shared responsibility for global environmental preservation. However,
it also establishes distinct standards of behaviour for developed and underdeveloped
countries. Principle 7 provides two reasons why developed countries are subject to stronger
norms of conduct: they contribute more to global environmental concerns and have greater
technological and financial capabilities to address these problems. The idea is expressed
differently in the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which
was negotiated at the same time. While the rules compel developed countries to take the lead
in tackling climate change, they do not explicitly state that they are solely responsible for
changes in the climate system. The CBDRRC is implemented by categorising parties into
distinct groups. However, only the UNFCCC preamble makes a broad reference to
responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the majority of industrialised
countries reject any interpretation of the CBDRRC that implies any international
commitments or liabilities for climate change. The CBDRRC principle's content and
implementation are still hotly debated. Its legal position, as well as its ability to lead the
design of a future climate regime, have sparked heated scholarly and political discussion. The
economic prosperity of some emerging countries, such as India, China, and Brazil, has
prompted calls from developed countries to gradually align the obligations of developed and
developing country parties. Mitigation action by developing and developed countries is
included in the Bali Action Plan (2007), the Copenhagen Accord (2009), and the Cancun
Agreements (2010). In general, the Cancun Agreement's language was predictive for both
rich and developing country parties, whereas earlier it was prescriptive for the former and
predictive for the latter.

However, there are still considerable disparities. Mitigation in developed countries is

frequently used to refer to measurable emission reduction commitments or targets.
Developing country mitigation does not refer to commitments, but rather to long-term
development that is backed and facilitated by developed-country technology, financing, and
capacity building. Furthermore, special emphasis is given to emerging countries that are
particularly susceptible, such as Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed
Countries (LDCs) (LDCs).

CBDRRC is an essential component of the climate regime's conceptual machinery, and it

plays a role in the interpretation of existing and future commitments. Any agreement 'under
the Convention' inherently engages the UNFCCC's principles and rules, notably equity and
CBDRRC, which sets a framework for differential treatment in aid provision in favour of
developing nations (financial, technological, capacity building).