Sources: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Context
- Vehicular emissions are the dominant source of Delhi-NCR air pollution.
- Major pollutants include PM2.5, carbon monoxide, benzene, and nitrogen oxides.
- Public discourse and judicial focus often blame stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.
- This narrative overlooks the primary contribution of urban transport emissions.
Polluter Pays Principle (PPP): Concept and Status in India
- PPP mandates that the polluter bears the cost of environmental damage caused.
- Recognised as Indian law in Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum (1996) judgment.
- Statutorily embedded through the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
- PPP is a cost allocation and internalisation principle, not merely compensation.
- Application becomes complex with multiple point and non-point pollution sources.
- Air pollution involves transboundary dimensions, limiting PPP’s standalone effectiveness.
Proportionality and Shared Responsibility
- Standley case (1999, ECJ) introduced proportionality into PPP application.
- Farmers cannot be held solely responsible for pollution originating from other sectors.
- Seasonal stubble burning cannot absorb liability for industrial and vehicular emissions.
- Proportional liability is crucial in multi-source pollution scenarios.
Transboundary Nature of Air Pollution
- Air pollution is regional and global, not purely local.
- Trail Smelter Arbitration (1941) recognised cross-border pollution liability.
- Scientific evidence confirms long-range transport of PM2.5 pollutants.
- International trade contributes significantly to transboundary health impacts of pollution.
- CLRTAP (1979) and ASEAN Haze Agreement (2002) address cross-border air pollution.
- Gothenburg Protocol (2012) formally recognised PM2.5 as a transboundary pollutant.
Shift towards Government-Pays Principle
- Indian courts struggle to quantify precise environmental damage.
- Judicial approach emphasises compensation and ecological restoration.
- This aligns more with corrective justice than strict PPP enforcement.
- In practice, PPP has shifted towards a government-pays principle.
- State uses Water Act, Air Act, EPA, and Articles 48A and 51A(g) for regulation.
Role of Activist Judiciary and Governance Gaps
- Regulatory authorities face administrative and enforcement failures.
- Judiciary increasingly places monitoring costs on governments.
- Welfarist approach protects victims unable to litigate against polluters.
- However, pollution prevention costs remain poorly internalised.
- Individual environmental duties receive limited attention in Indian discourse.
