The conference also highlighted the responsibility of political leaders, media, and civil society to rebuild a climate of civility, reason, and constitutional values.
BY Navin Upadhyay
New Delhi, Saturday: Some of the finest legal brains in the country on Saturday warned that environmental degradation and the steady coarsening of public discourse now pose parallel threats to India’s democratic fabric. The caution came during Samvaad 2.0, the fourth edition of the annual constitutional dialogue hosted by the Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Foundation at the India International Centre.
This year’s theme — “Sustainable Development and the Idea of India Therein” — brought together jurists and senior advocates to examine how environmental justice and constitutional governance must converge for India’s developmental roadmap.
Addressing the gathering, Supreme Court judge ( Retd) Justice Abhay S. Oka expressed dismay that the governments remain reluctant to implement court orders related to sustainable development and environmental protection. He remarked that, had it not been for the persistent efforts of environmental activists across the country, India would have found itself in a far more precarious situation regarding the safeguarding of its envirnment. Justice Oka cautioned that judicial directives alone cannot secure ecological balance unless the administration demonstrates the will to act.
While the speakers focused on the urgency of environmental protection and the state’s responsibility in preventing ecological collapse, Justice Oka broadened the frame, arguing that democratic health depended not only on clean air and rivers, but also on a clean and responsible public sphere. “A polluted discourse is as dangerous as a polluted environment,” he remarked, urging institutions and leaders to reclaim the principles of restraint and reason.
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Justice Oka said sustainable development must be understood not as a political slogan but as a constitutional duty arising from the values embedded in the Preamble and Part IV.
“Sustainable development must flow from the Constitution’s idea of India — one that balances environmental protection with social justice,” he said.
Justice Oka emphasised that environmental protection has long been recognised as part of the right to life under Article 21, but the failure lies in institutional implementation rather than constitutional design.
He warned against the “misleading” narrative that blames slums for environmental degradation. “Rehabilitation cannot mean relocating people into polluted zones. Sustainability that displaces the poor is not sustainability,” he said.
“Citizen Action, Not Just Court Orders, Drives Change”: Justice Waziri
Former Delhi High Court judge Justice Najmi Waziri, drawing upon years of judicial experience dealing with Delhi’s pollution, encroachment, and environmental compliance cases, stressed that progressive judicial orders have little impact without responsive governance.
“Any law is only as valuable as its real-world impact,” he said. “Courts can pass progressive orders, but implementation fails because too many agencies are involved. What truly works is citizen action.”
He narrated how Delhi residents voluntarily planted trees during court-monitored afforestation efforts. “A retired soldier was assigned 100 trees and came back wanting to plant 500,” he recalled, underscoring the potential of citizen-led environmental movements.
Justice Waziri also criticised unplanned urban expansion, weak drainage systems, overburdened waste sites, and demolition drives that ignore basic rehabilitation norms.
These failures, he argued, reveal an “administrative lethargy” that forces the judiciary to intervene repeatedly.
“Environmental concerns reach courtrooms because they are absent in political manifestos,” he said.
Environmentalism Is Class Struggle, Not Elitism
Senior Advocate K. Parameshwar located India’s environmental crisis within a broader constitutional and socio-economic context. He warned that environmental governance has increasingly become court-driven rather than democratically deliberated.
“Sustainable development is not a technical term — it is a distributional question,” he said. “Environmental cases are class struggles. Environment is livelihood.”
Parameshwar highlighted that the burden of environmental compliance often falls on the poor, citing the CNG transition for auto-rickshaw drivers as a stark example. He argued that environmental governance has been shaped disproportionately by the judiciary because Parliament, regulators, and local institutions have failed to build capacity.
He also raised structural concerns about PIL-driven environmental jurisprudence:
“These cases are personality-driven. They rise and fall depending on the judges and amici who handle them.”
On institutional reform, Parameshwar made a provocative suggestion: critical public resources such as forest land, water, and district hospitals should fall under the supervisory jurisdiction of High Courts rather than tribunals, to restore constitutional accountability.
Debating Duties: Moral Responsibility vs. State Power
A key segment of the trialogue examined fundamental duties, their contested origins in the Emergency, and their relevance today.
Parameshwar cautioned that duties should not become instruments for the State to police citizens.
Justice Oka, however, offered a rights-centric interpretation:
“If it is my duty to abide by the Constitution, it is equally my duty to protect your freedom of speech. Duties, read correctly, strengthen rights.”
Both perspectives converged into a larger conclusion: active citizenship is indispensable for sustainable development.
The Constitutional Frontier of Sustainable Development
Throughout the dialogue, panelists repeatedly highlighted a central tension: Can India reconcile its economic ambitions with its commitment to equity and ecology?
Three major constitutional imperatives emerged:
- Participation at the Centre
Communities must have a decisive voice in urban planning, rehabilitation, forest use, and land acquisition.
“Every person affected by development must have a right to be heard,” Justice Oka said.
- Decentralised Environmental Governance
Parameshwar argued that environmental decision-making should be shifted from tribunals back to constitutional courts.
- Fraternity and Collective Duty
Sustainable development, the panel agreed, must be anchored in constitutional morality—not episodic judicial activism.
Foundation’s Commitment to Constitutional Dialogue
The event opened with remarks by Trustee Anushree Tripathi, who emphasised Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi’s belief that “service must be purposeful, and purpose must be humane.”
She highlighted the Foundation’s rewilding and tree-plantation initiatives across India, rooted in community stewardship and intergenerational responsibility.
The evening concluded with a vote of thanks by Aditi Tripathi, who underscored that environmental justice is inseparable from human dignity.
Established in November 2022, the Foundation is overseen by Mrs. Alka Tripathi, along with daughters Anushree, Aditi, Aakriti, and son-in-law Rahul Narayanan. In its fourth year, it continues to shape national conversations on constitutional values, access to justice, and the Idea of India.
A Constitutional Moment for India
Far from being a technical discussion on pollution or climate change, Samvaad 2.0 served as a constitutional interrogation of power, justice, and the State’s obligations toward its citizens.
The debate pointed toward a clear roadmap:
- Make environmental protection politically central, not judicially incidental
- Democratise forest and urban development decisions
- Recognise that the poor disproportionately bear environmental burdens
- Treat sustainability as a constitutional ethic, not a policy add-on
As India marches toward its 2047 goal of becoming a Viksit Bharat, Samvaad 2.0 framed the challenge starkly: sustainable development will define the Idea of India in the decades ahead — not as rhetoric, but as constitutional duty.
