ENVIRONMENTAL JURISPRUDENCE AT CROSS-ROADS IN INDIA: THE BALANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE AND RIGHT OF HARMONIOUS CO-EXISTENCE

Abstract

India passed its first historic judgment on climate change which was made available on 08th April 2024 by recognising its adverse impacts to be a violation of human rights and that of the fundamental right to life as enshrined in the Indian Constitution and interpreted in multifarious dimensions by the courts of law in India. While it is indeed true that it is historic in nature, the paper attempts to raise certain concerns. First, wasn’t this aspect already recognised as a right in plethora of decisions already dating back from the times of M.C. Mehta vs. Union of India or M.C. Mehta vs. Kamal Nath or Enviro Legal Action and all such landmark decisions that paved the way for the environmental jurisprudence in India? Second, what is and how is this case different than those earlier decisions and finally, how many really bothered to even glance through the facts of the case and issues involved to note why and how did the apex court pronounce such a remarkable order? In this regard, thus, the paper attempts to meander through the environmental jurisprudence in crossroads in India where the rights of the living beings are contrary to each other and instead of the harmonious existence of the living world, the courts are sticking to the age-old anthropocentric approach to environmental protection. Ultimately, then, the paper raises the larger question of how is this case remarkable when it fails, if so, to keep a balance of human rights and rights of Nature.