BEL401 | Environmental Law and Policy

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Environmental Law and Policy is a transdisciplinary discourse. It is heavily inspired from and draws quite a wide variety of disciplines such as Constitutional Law, International Law, Tort Law, Criminal Law, Human Rights, Environmental Economics, Ecological Sciences, Biochemistry, Anthropology, Sociology etc. Almost every conceivable discipline in some form or the other, finds expression in this body of law.
The three basic ideals that permeate this body of law are: (i) Discarding the “Business as Usual” model, (ii) Firm faith & belief in environmentally sustainable development, and (iii) Inclination to make the system work and act as a catalyst for an environmentally just legal order.

As a subject, Environmental Law and Policy is a core course which is taught mandatorily for the B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) programme. It is a logical extension of the Natural Resource Management Course (Land Laws) taught in the second year of the B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) programme.

Since environmental law is rooted in several disciplines both within and outside law, the present course will follow a transdisciplinary approach. This would enable the students to gain much needed insight regarding the context and rationale for making this area of law & its working.

Since the basics of natural resource management got covered in the second year, hence, the present will begin directly from the fundamental norms of environmental governance. The focus will be primarily on Indian Policy and Law. However, international inspirations and bases would also find an appropriate place in the enquiry. Against the backdrop of the environmental crisis and international assessment of India’s environmental performance, the course unfolds with the basic theories of environmental management. An analysis of the fundamental principles of environmental governance follows this. The rest of the course is about an enquiry into the extent of accommodation and internalisation of the theories and principles in the legal order. The issues covered include, the Browner aspects like: pollution control, waste management, impact assessment etc., and greener aspects like forest, wildlife, bio-diversity etc. In addition, there would be reflections on eco-sensitive zones and coastal area management. Environmental justice and its dispensation at various levels would permeate the entire discourse. This would equip the students with both the theoretical and practical skills and tools required for this specialized area of law and practice. For this purpose, a discussion on Climate Law and Litigation is included in this discourse edition.

Primary materials like policy documents, statutes etc. would be relied on, and would be amply supported by critical and evaluatory studies supplied, from time to time, as part of the reading material and case laws.

Teaching Method: Since the course is offered offline, the approach is essentially to initiate reflections on various issues on a predetermined topic with the help of a few presentation tools like PPT, short video clips, etc. Towards the end of the lecture, the students are encouraged to interact and participate in the discussions, and efforts will also be made to identify some students who are interested in or are being assigned specific project topics, to initiate discussions or make strategic interventions. Besides theoretical understanding, the discussions during the course will be practice-oriented to impart skills required to apply the law in practical situations.

The Course is divided into two modules to be taught over a period of 10 weeks. The First module will focus on the Indian Environmental Law regime and will discuss the various principles, legislations and myriad rules that govern the environment in India. The Second module will cover International Environmental Law and discuss principles of international environmental governance, conventions and recent developments in this area.