RAS question
The 'polluter pays' principle in India was upheld by the Supreme Court in which landmark case?
Correct answer: (D) MC Mehta v. Union of India.
The polluter pays principle in India was upheld by the Supreme Court in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India.
Explanation
M.C. Mehta v. Union of India is the matching landmark case because it arose from the 1987 oleum gas leak at Shriram Industries in Delhi, where the Supreme Court recognised strict responsibility for hazardous industries through the doctrine of absolute liability. In the M.C. Mehta litigation, the Supreme Court of India also applied the Polluter Pays principle to polluting industries: continued pollution carried financial consequences, including penalties and compensation for ecological damage. The point for RAS is the Court's environmental-law move: pollution is not merely a regulatory breach; the polluter must bear the cost of harm and remediation.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar is associated with the right to a clean environment, not with the landmark upholding of the polluter pays principle asked here.
- (B) T.N. Godavarman v. Union of India is centred on forest protection, so it does not match the industrial-pollution liability principle in the question.
- (C) Narmada Bachao v. Union of India concerned dam construction, not the Supreme Court's polluter-pays treatment of hazardous or polluting industries.
Concept
This tests environmental jurisprudence under Environment and Ecology, especially judge-made principles used in Indian environmental governance. It recurs in RAS because landmark Supreme Court cases often connect constitutional rights, pollution control and administrative accountability.