Industrial Pollution Control in India: Public Interest Litigation Re-examined

Abstract

The salient feature of India’s pollution control is the active role played by the judiciary. There are an increasing number of public interest litigation (PIL) cases and other legal efforts, which are playing an important role in environmental policy implementation and legal compliance. PIL, in addition to formal lawsuit procedures, allows the general public to invoke the warrant jurisdiction of the court, sometimes even by sending a postcard directly to the Supreme Court or High Court. Buses, taxis and three-wheeled vehicles used for public transportation in the capital city are now fuelled with compressed natural gas (CNG). This is one example where PIL was effective in ameliorating the air pollution problem by leading to a Supreme Court order that public transportation must use CNG. There are now so many environmental lawsuits that every Friday is ‘Green Friday’, when Supreme Courts deal with environment-related cases (Agarwal et al., 1999).