Environmental justice: CJ urges legislation on environment

Apex court interprets ‘right to life’ to encompass environment.

BHURBAN:

Pointing out lack of legislation on environmental protection in Pakistan, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday urged provincial governments to legislate and evolve mechanisms to protect the environment.

The constitution does not articulate the issue of environmental protection and preservation in any of its provisions, but superior courts in Pakistan have interpreted the ‘right to life’ in Article 9 of the Constitution and have held that the word ‘life’ encompasses the environment in all its dimensions, the chief justice said at the inaugural session of the South Asia Conference on Environmental Justice.

The conference was held under the aegis of the Supreme Court of Pakistan with collaboration of the Asian Development Bank and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Environmental laws in Pakistan, whether federal or provincial, are vague and the authorities concerned need to have an overview from an international, regional and national perspective, the chief justice said.

“No environmental plans can achieve their objectives without mobilising the public and the stakeholders,” he added.

The conference was also attended by judges from other South Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

The prime legislation pertaining to the environmental protection is the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997, which provides for the conservation, rehabilitation and improvement of the environment and promotion of sustainable development, the chief justice said.

The act also provides for the establishment of environmental protection agency, council, tribunals and courts, he added.

Cases on environment

The chief justice, citing judgments of the Supreme Court regarding environmental protection, said the verdict in the Shehla Zia case set out guidelines for controlling pollution caused by vehicular emissions in Karachi.

A suo motu case was taken up on environmental hazards posed by the proposed ‘New Murree Project’ after a report by the IUCN was submitted to the government and published in the media.

The case involved issues that were likely to affect the public at large, including conservation of forests, supply of clean water to Islamabad and Rawalpindi and siltation in the Simly and Mangla Dams.

In a case regarding development of land in Sector E-11 of Islamabad, the court observed that ‘right to life’ implies the right to food, water, decent environment, education, medical care and shelter, which cannot be snatched away or waived off pursuant to any agreement.

A suo motu case on the canal road widening project in Lahore, likely to axe at least 21,000 trees and destroy 60 acres of green belt along the Bambawali-Ravi-Bedian (BRB) canal, restrained its execution. The court took another suo motu notice on a proposal to set up a housing scheme on the Margalla Hills, which would have posed a danger to the Khanpur Dam and affected wildlife and their habitat in the hills.

The apex court directed the authorities concerned to prepare an environmental impact assessment of the project.

On reports of possible dumping of nuclear and industrial waste in Balochistan, the court directed authorities, responsible for allotting land in the costal area, to insert a condition in the lease document that the allottee or tenant shall not use the land for dumping, treating, burning or destroying, by any device, waste of any nature, including industrial or nuclear, in any form.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2012.