The Evolving Jurisprudence of Environmental Protection in India: A Critical Analysis of the Judiciary’s Role.

The Indian judiciary has played a significant role in the environmental protection, utilizing its powers to interpret and enforce environmental legislations, upholding constitutional provisions, and address Public Interest Litigations. The environmental judgment of the court, in many cases, have significant impacts on the overall environmental protection and improvement process in India. Judicial activism, particularly in present times, has given new direction in the protection and improvement of the environment. The landmark judgments and orders of the Supreme Court and High Courts have triggered a wave of environment awareness and consciousness in our country. The Indian judiciary has developed certain environmental principles while dealing with the cases of environment protection. The aim of this paper is to analyse how the Supreme Court and High Courts make decisions about the environment. For this purpose, most of the important decisions made by our Supreme Court on important environmental issues have been collected and analysed. Analysing the case law is primarily focused on the influence or role played by the court on environmental issues.