Responding to Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi’s lament that coastal regulations are limiting development and diverting tourism to other countries, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice JS Khehar said on Saturday that “environment is not a matter of competition” and that “development can happen, but with due care for environment.”

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He said that courts will step in only when environmental safeguards are not in place.

Rohatgi and Khehar were speaking in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and National Green Tribunal (NGT) Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar at the inauguration of NGT’s two-day international conference on environment.

Rohatgi said: “The CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) notification says 500 metres from the sea...there can be no hotels, no development, no other infrastructure. Over the past 25 years, domestic and foreign tourism have been diverted to our neighbours in the South-East.”

He added, “If they can do it, surely, it is time for us — the government and the courts and the stakeholders – to take a call. Why should we not look (at) and maybe debunk the ideas which were floated for over 25 years by CRZ. One must see what good CRZ has got.”

The AG also said that several projects get stuck for years and there is a need for an advance consultative process for mega projects to prevent lengthy litigation. Responding to the AG’s comments, the CJI Khehar said, “The comparison with tourist spots in India and other countries...it seems as if we were competing with somebody else. Environment is not a matter of competition. You may construct hotels, you may construct whatever you wish, but have in place regulations for environmental protection and no court can ever interfere with that.” 

He further said that courts will interfere when environmental safeguards are not in place while building developmental projects. 

“The possibility of interference will arise, when seaports are raised and constructed and the existing environment is altered or when townships are raised without appropriately dealing with sewage, water disposal, that’s when the problem emerges. The policy of the government, in India and elsewhere, has to be to allow development and industry but by taking due care of the environment. That’s the way forward.”

The AG’s comments come at a time when the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change is preparing a fresh draft of the CRZ notification easing regulations by reportedly allowing reclamation of land for commercial and entertainment purposes, which is currently prohibited. This move has been opposed for years by environmental activists.

Later in the conference, President Pranab Mukherjee stressed that while development is necessary to pull people out of poverty, contradictions between environment and development will end if we can check our lust for appropriation beyond requirements.