Echoing his views, the chairperson of National Green Tribunal Justice (retd.) Swatanter Kumar said that the time has come when we have to “balance between sustainable development and protection of nature and environment.”

“It is government which is supposed to protect the environment but increasingly, we find, for various reasons, that the government is unable to do this task. “But that is primarily because politics is the main chase. You need an electorate to give votes. It is expensive exercise and therefore you have to increasingly depend on big businesses which exploit environment,” Justice Sen said.

He went on to add that no government is interested in environment and this issue is on the lowest priority list and most of the time treat it as an obstacle to industrialisation. “Increasingly, we hear from the government and the bureaucracy that we are going into areas which is not expected of judiciary. What does the judiciary do? A and B have a dispute and we are expected to decide. But what about the constitutional vision. “Are we supposed to look the other way when we see degradation at such a large-scale. Or is it our duty, as a member of higher judiciary, to take note of it. Governments think that we are encroaching on their territory but the reality is that we are doing very little to protect the environment. Any judge who is mindful will put environment on his priority list,” Justice Sen said.

Both the judges were speaking at the release of Jindal Global Law Review’s special issue on Environmental Law on May 12. Justice (retd.) Kumar made it clear that the development is very much needed, however, he said that today’s decisions must be taken with the clear mindset so that “the next generations do not suffer”. “Development is essential, who can dispute that fact? You need industries, you need aeroplanes, you need energy… Only thing is that how would you do it? We need to take some harsh decisions so that the people today and the next generations do not suffer,” he said.

He said that the earth and the nature, like a mother, forgives us for all that we do. “It tolerates every harsh thing, human beings are inflicting on it.” “But there is limit to this tolerance. When it gets beyond the tolerance, then the mother earth and the nature revolt. And when it revolts, disasters are what you are seeing in Uttarakhand, Nepal, and other places,” he said. “Development is essential, who can dispute that fact? You need industries, you need aeroplanes, you need energy… Only thing is that how would you do it? You can not ignore what you are going to pass to your next generation,” he said.

Expressing concern over Delhi’s bad air quality, he said that the situation is so bad that every child born in Delhi, Ghaziabad or Agra, within five years of his birth, would be asthmatic. “Is this what we are looking for? Is this what we are going to pass on to our next generations? The kids today, half of them are living on antibiotics. What harm they have done to deserve that,” he added. (By Yournews Network)