The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Judges should keep abreast of green laws'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 10, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Judges should keep abreast of green laws'

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Judicial officers, magistrates, advocates and law students need to keep abreast of environmental laws, particularly if they function in biodiversity-rich areas, so as to meet the growing challenge posed by major environmental problems in the country, Nanditha Krishna, Honorary Director, of the Chennai-based C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre (CPREEC) has said.

Speaking at the inauguration of a workshop on "Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development" for judicial officers at the Karnataka Judicial Academy here on Saturday, Dr. Krishna said most people were not aware that many environmental problems that affected us directly such as pollution and environmental and wildlife destruction could be solved with the help of specific laws.

Lack of awareness

There are several problems such as lack of public awareness, fear of delay in the judicial system, and lack of interest of the legal community in taking up cases related to the environment.

Loopholes in environment laws made it difficult for lawyers to win a case, and very often the polluter would get away with no punishment, Dr. Krishna said.

"If the judicial officers and magistrates are up-to-date on the issues, it will be easier to make use of the vast cache of environmental laws in a way that recognises people's role in this", Dr Krishna said.

B. Basappa, Director-General, Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute, who delivered the keynote address, said it was important for lawmakers and law-enforcing agencies and the judiciary to work in tandem in the task of conservation.

Plant resources

Giving the example of the Western Ghats, he said that over-exploitation of plant resources in the region, mining, hydro-electricity projects, power transmission lines and roads had splintered forests and disturbed wildlife, leading to problems such as global warming, depletion of water and natural resources. These should be borne in mind while judicial officers hear enviro-legal cases, in the long-term interests of society, he said.

The CPREEC, the first organisation to conduct environmental law education conducts environmental law capacity-building programmes, workshops and seminars for the judiciary, advocates, industrialists, law students and non-governmental organisations.

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