Environmental Law and Labour Law
This domain pairs constitutional environmental rights with pollution-control statutes, and statutory labour protections with constitutional directives.
Environment
- Article 21 includes the right to a clean environment (Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar, 1991); Articles 48A and 51A(g) are a directive and a duty.
- Principles: sustainable development, precautionary principle and polluter pays (Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum, 1996); public trust doctrine (M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, 1997); absolute liability for hazardous activity (M.C. Mehta, 1987).
- Statutes: Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 (consent regimes); Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (ss.3, 5, 15; EIA Notification, 2006); Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972; National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (s.14 jurisdiction, s.15 relief, s.16 appeal, s.20 principles).
Labour
- Constitutional: Articles 23, 24, 39(e), 41, 42, 43 and 43A; the four labour codes (Wages, 2019; Industrial Relations, 2020; Social Security, 2020; Occupational Safety, 2020) consolidate 29 statutes, but minimum wages, standing orders and dispute resolution persist.
- Key statutes: Factories Act, 1948; Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; ESI Act, 1948; EPF Act, 1952; Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013.
Worked example
A factory discharges untreated effluent into a river. The NGT has jurisdiction because a substantial question of environmental law arises under s.14. Applying the precautionary principle and polluter pays, it can order compensation and remediation; the permit defence fails where consent conditions are breached. Under absolute liability the enterprise cannot escape by pleading act of God or third-party fault in a hazardous activity.
Traps
- Treating polluter pays as a substitute for statutory penalties.
- Forgetting that the NGT must apply the s.20 principles.