Supreme Court judge BV Nagarathna has described environmental law as 'hot law', emphasizing its forward-looking and precautionary nature. Unlike traditional legal fields, environmental law operates in real-time, grappling with uncertainty, evolving science, and the risk of irreversible harm.
Nagarathna explained that environmental law is concerned with regulating risk, preventing harm, and managing uncertainty, rather than merely correcting past conduct. She noted that scientific knowledge in this field is provisional and evolving, and legal standards must remain responsive to these changes.
The judge added that environmental law is also 'hot' in an institutional sense, as courts and regulators must take decisions under intense public scrutiny and in the shadow of potential ecological damage. This demands a form of judicial reasoning that is context-sensitive, precautionary, and anchored in constitutional values.
Nagarathna's remarks highlighted the inequities embedded in environmental harm, emphasizing that pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion disproportionately impact the poor and marginalized. She framed environmental adjudication as inherently tied to questions of equity, fairness, and justice.
The judge stressed that environmental justice extends the right to life under Article 21 beyond mere survival to include conditions of health, dignity, and well-being. She also emphasized the need for courts to incorporate principles of distributive fairness and intergenerational equity into decision-making.
