Importance for Environmental Crimes in India is not something that country debates on prime time. Debates on environmental issues are primarily restricted to post-disaster situations. Visual media wallows on presenting the horror that run in a loop which can satiate their existential need of daily excesses and print media as a periodic filler.
So, when we get a report of 78% raise in the Environmental Crimes between 2019 and 2020 and how during the same time the disposal of cases on Environmental Crimes came down to a trickle, we don’t expect any media to lose their sleep over it. After all, 32 million cases are pending in front of various Courts in this country according to the Dashboard of NJDG. The Supreme Court has about 73,000 pending cases according to another article that says that there are 44 million pending cases in India.
What’s revealing about this compilation of data is the time taken to deliver justice to those communities that are already neglected, ignored or rendered vulnerable. Look at the following list —
- Forest Rights Act & Forest Conservation Act which primarily impacts the Tribal community that is already rendered vulnerable — at the current pace in which the Courts operate, it will take 9 yrs and 2 months to dispose all cases
- The Wildlife Protection Act which perhaps addresses crimes against the most fragile fauna in the country — at the current pace, clearing the backlog will take 18 yrs and 3 months.
- The National Green Tribunal Act perhaps a place where people go as a first step to seek stay orders will take a whopping 242 years at the current pace to clear the cases pending in front of them
In effect, some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people can lose a decade, wildlife lose two decades (during which period, according to WWF we would lose about 200,000 species globally) or someone seeking immediate redressal a century (which in current situation, no one can even predict). Denial of timely justice is akin to a crime in a civilized society. Such long duration denial of justice for an already vulnerable community or species is nothing short of engineered extinction.
The Government of India has recently made ESG Safe Guards mandatory for the top listed companies in the country and sought public opinion on a draft. ESRA team too has submitted a set of recommendations.
If ESG adherence ensures investment, timely justice ensures trust in judiciary for the population. It is time that speedy addressing of the Environmental Crime is treated as part of the Climate Change response by the Government if we were to look at Just Transition as a priority in this country.
ESRA Team, 12/03/2022