RESEARCH FOUNDATION Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed by the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Natural Resource Policy, through its Director, Ms. Vandna Shiva, for the following reliefs :

(2.) The basic grievance of the Writ Petitioner was with regard to the import of toxic wastes from industrialized countries to India, despite such wastes being hazardous to the environment and life of the people of this country. The Writ Petitioner sought to challenge the decision of the Ministry of Environment and Forests permitting import of toxic wastes in India under the cover of recycling, which, according to the Petitioner, made India a dumping ground for toxic wastes. It was alleged that these decisions were contrary to the provisions of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and also Article 47, which enjoins a duty on the State to raise the standards of living and to improve public health. In the writ petition it was also contended that Article 48A provides that the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.

(3.) In the writ petition, Ms. Vandna Shiva, the Director of the Petitioner Foundation, who is a well-known environmentalist and journalist, while highlighting some of the tragedies which had occurred on account of either dumping or release of hazardous and toxic wastes into the atmosphere, such as the tragedy which took place in the Union Carbide factory at Bhopal in 1984, referred to the BASEL Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their disposal. It was submitted that an international awareness had been created under the BASEL Convention against the movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal in respect whereof the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had convened a Conference on the Global Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes pursuant to the decision adopted by the Governing Council of UNEP on 17th June, 1987. The said Conference met at the European World Trade and Convention Centre, Basel, from 20th to 22nd March, 1989. India also participated in the Conference. On the basis of the deliberations of the Committee, the BASEL Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements on Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on 22nd March, 1989. It was the grievance of the Writ Petitioner that since India became a signatory to the BASEL Convention on 22nd September, 1992, it should have amended the definition of "hazardous wastes", as provided in Article 3 read with Articles 4.1 and 13 of the said Convention. It was the further grievance of the Writ Petitioner that India should have enacted laws in regard to the Transboundary Movement procedures with regard to hazardous wastes. Some of the relevant provisions of Article 4 of the aforesaid Convention have been quoted in the writ petition and are extracted hereinbelow :