Right to Environment and Right to Development: A Judicial Conundrum

Abstract

Pollution free environment is indispensible for the inhabitants of this planet. The Supreme Court of India taking cognizance of the same in its judicial creativity has accorded the right to live in a pollution free environment the status of a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. At the same time, right to development places human beings at the centre of development casting an obligation on the state to ensure the benefits of development to the citizenry. Interestingly, both right to environment and right to development draw their genesis from Article 21 of the Constitution. Such affirmation of rights necessarily presents a question of compliance by the state. This paper traces the origin of right to environment and right to development in the larger context of the fundamental rights. It critically examines the usefulness of declaration of these rights under the scheme of the Constitution. It argues that the judiciary in its judicial creativity has made unreasonable interference into the matters reserved for the executive which is not in accordance with the basic structure of the Constitution. The paper calls for maintenance of harmony between the two organs of the state.