Environmental Law

This edition incorporates important legislative, regulatory, policy, and judicial developments relevant to Indian environmental law up to 2026. Particular attention has been given to developments concerning climate change, renewable and nuclear energy, waste management, ecological restoration, carbon markets, biodiversity and constitutional environmental rights.

The edition also incorporates significant judicial developments, including M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India, Gene Campaign v. Union of India, and T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India, alongside newly notified rules and emerging policy initiatives. This eighth edition provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the evolving landscape of environmental law.

It is intended to serve as a reliable and practical reference for students, researchers, academicians, legal practitioners, policy-makers, and all those engaged with the study and practice of environmental law.

Excerpt from Foreword

An understanding of the current state of environmental law requires some understating of its history. Environmental controls have a long history, going back to medieval statutes on small-scale pollution and the development of private law principles to deal with threats to communal assets such as water. Till recently, few would have thought of these laws as part of something called 'environmental law', since their focus was on the protection of private and common property. Environmental law has changed rapidly over period of 40 years with the pace of change accelerating since the beginning of the 1990s. Further, change can be expected in the future to reflect the vastly increased prominence of environmental issues.

- Justice G.S. Singhvi, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India

Table of Cases
Introduction
1. Ancient Indian Environmental Ethics
2. Historical Perspective
3. Pollution: Causes and Kinds
4. Need for Environmental Law: An Indian Perspective
5. The Indian Constitution and Environment Protection
6. Environmental Pollution and Control Under Other Laws
7. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
8. Law Relating to Hazardous Wastes Management: An Indian Profile
9. Noise Pollution, Public Health, and Protection
10. Water Pollution and the Law
11. Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
12. Forest and Conservation Laws
13. Wildlife Protection and the Law
14. Coastal Zone Management in India
15. International Environmental Law
16. Nuclear Power Plants and the Environment
17. A Ray of Hope
Appendices
1. Some Important Pronouncements
2. National Environment Policy, 2006
International Law on Environment
New Legislative Additions
Subject Index