Slowly but surely, the veteran attorney's long-standing fight for the environment is making a difference, says Nikhil M Ghanekar
Mahesh Chandra Mehta, better known by his famous case title 'M.C.Mehta vs Union of India', has become synonymous with public interest litigations on environmental protection. In the premises of National Green Tribunal (NGT) or the Supreme Court (SC), Mehta's physical presence is hardly imposing. A quiet man with silvery hair and a scruffy stubble, Mehta's cases, though, are enough to fill up a courtroom with lawyers and media persons alike.
Mehta, 69, is the man behind some of India's biggest environmental cases and associated victories. The Taj Mahal pollution case, Oleum gas leak compensation, vehicular pollution in Delhi, industrial pollution in the Ganges... Mehta is the force behind these environmental litigations that have resulted in landmark judgements, including the introduction of lead-free petrol, shifting of polluting tanneries and ushering in CNG fuel in the Capital.
Three decades after it was filed, the Ganga pollution matter drags on even today. And so does the vehicular pollution case, but Mehta pushes on, appearing in person day after day in these two cases before the NGT and the SC. "There is no other option, but to keep fighting. The PILs have seen many historic judgements and orders but compliance has always been weak and has depended heavily on strong political leadership. So, approaching the courts to enforce law and order was the only solution," says Mehta.
Mehta's crusade against pollution has not been without threats. His workload was at its peak in the 1990s, when he had to simultaneously fight cases on Taj pollution, vehicular pollution, Ganga pollution, Oleum gas leak, Delhi ridge encroachment, and Delhi industrial pollution. His PILs had already led to shifting of several industries from Delhi and this had enraged the owners. "I have received several threats over the years because so many people were adversely impacted due to the judgements. I remember one instance where people tried to beat me up during a conference at India International Centre in Delhi," said Mehta.
Even while Mehta's PIL continues to linger in courts, their sting is still intact as environmentalists, court appointed and otherwise have aided the cause. It was in Mehta's case that the SC recently asked automobile manufacturers to stop the sale of vehicles with Bharat Stage (BS) III fuel emission technology from April 1.
Among all the litigations, the Ganga pollution matter remains close to the veteran attorney's heart. Mehta's Ganga matter has nine Prime Ministers – including Narendra Modi – at the helm, but the holy river, which he calls Gangaji with reverence, is far from being clean. "With all the governments, the most unfortunate thing has been the absence of a solid inventory of polluting industries along the Ganga. I feel sad that despite the shifting of tanneries from Kolkata in the early '90s and orders on effluent treatment plants, the river is in a critical state even today. Now, they want to build so many dams on it upstream; how will it survive?," asks Mehta.
"Hope, determination and prayers, to Gangaji, are the only things that keep me going. If we lose Ganga, a third of the country's civilization will be threatened. So, we have to keep going on," Mehta added.
Mahesh Chandra Mehta, 69, hails from Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir.
He studied political science and law at Jammu University and moved to Delhi in the early 1980's.
He has received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, for grassroots environmental activism, in 1993 and Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1997
In 2016, he was conferred the Padma Shri.
His PIL's have resulted in landmark orders to abate pollution around the Taj Mahal that was causing its dome to turn yellow, introduction of CNG fuel in the Capital and introduction of unleaded fuel across the country.
In the Ganga pollution case, Supreme Court shut down and shifted hundreds of polluting industries.
More than a lakh industrial units were shifted outside the Capital as a result of his PIL.
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