Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India

Facts

• Tanneries in Tamil Nadu were discharging untreated effluent, causing severe environmental and health harm to surrounding communities and agricultural land
• The petitioners sought judicial intervention to address this ongoing pollution
• The Court considered how international environmental principles should inform Indian domestic jurisprudence

Issue

1. Whether the precautionary principle and polluter pays principle, articulated through international declarations, are applicable within Indian domestic environmental jurisprudence absent specific domestic legislation.

Held

• These principles, as part of customary international law, become part of the law of the land where they do not conflict with existing domestic statute
• The precautionary principle and polluter pays principle were explicitly incorporated into Indian environmental jurisprudence
• The polluting tanneries were ordered to compensate for the environmental damage caused and to fund remedial measures

Ratio Decidendi

International environmental principles, where widely recognised as customary international law, form part of Indian domestic law even absent specific legislative enactment, provided they do not conflict with existing domestic statute, allowing Indian courts to draw directly on this international framework.