The Role of Judiciary in Promoting Sustainable Development: Need of Specialized Environment Court in India

Abstract

Sustainable development is increasingly promulgated in international and national legal contexts, but there is a long way to go in terms of implementation. The role of the judiciary is thus of the greatest importance. The judiciary, at a national level, is faced with the task of explicating the law of sustainable development, case by case. Incrementally a body of environmental jurisprudence is emerging. In performing this task, national judiciaries will be assisted by the exchange of judicial decisions, information and experience between jurisdictions. In this way, national judiciaries may benefit from each other's knowledge, experience and expertise. The purpose of this article is to contribute to this information-sharing goal. The author's argument is that, prerequisites for establishing special environmental court in India are not available, and a full review for the Indian environmental legislations and judicial structure is needed before deciding the issue of establishing special environmental court.