MC MEHTA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF

ENVIRONMENTAL JURISPRUDENCE IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

• Numerous legislative steps have been taken to give effect to the significant right of man to live in a
sound environment and the corresponding duty on state and individuals to ensure environment
preservation and conservation.
• In recent years, there has been a sustained focus on the role played by the higher judiciary in devising
and monitoring the implementation of measures for pollution control, conservation of forests and
wildlife protection.
• In 1984–85 a lawyer named MC Mehta filed a bunch of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) cases in the
Supreme Court of India. 
• These cases were fated to be landmarks in the history of PIL in India and are generally discussed as the
archetypical environmental PILs.
JUDICIAL REMEDIES FOR
ENVIRONMENT POLLUTION

• Damage
• Injunction
• Nuisance
• Negligence
• Trespass
• Strict Liability
SOME REMARKABLE PRINCIPLES AND
DOCTRINES PROPOUNDED BY THE
INDIAN JUDICIARY

• Doctrine of Absolute Liability

• Polluter Pays Principles 
• Precautionary Principle
• Doctrine of Sustainable Development
MC MEHTA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
JURISPRUDENCE
 

• M.C. Mehta’s public interest environmental litigation cases have formed the foundation for the
development of environmental jurisprudence in India, and indeed, South Asia today.
• It was Mr. M.C Mehta who revived the concept of environmental jurisprudence in India through PIL.
• The right to humane and healthy environment is seen indirectly approved in the MC Mehta group of
cases, decided subsequently by the Supreme Court.
• M.C. Mehta’s cases have established the following seminal principles in Indian environmental
jurisprudence:
• The constitutional right to life extends to the right to a clean and healthy environment.
• Courts are empowered to grant financial compensation as a remedy for the infringement of the right to
life.
• Polluters should be held absolutely liable to compensate for harm caused by their hazardous activities.
• Public resources that are sensitive, fragile or of high ecological value should be maintained and
preserved for the public.
CASE LAWS

• TAJMAHAL CASE
• GANGES POLLUTION CASE
• VEHICULAR POLLUTION CASE
• OLEUM GAS LEAK CASE
• CHILD LABOUR CASE
• DUST POLLUTION CASE
• COASTAL AREAS CASE
• GROUND WATER DEPLETION CASE
THANK YOU