Author
Prof Dr. Anupama Goel
Organisation/Institution
National Law University, Delhi
Country
INDIA
Panel
Constitutional and Admin Law
Title
ADMINISTRATIVE DISCRETION AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN SOUTH ASIA: CONSTITUTIONAL PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE GOVERNANCE
Abstract
This abstract examines how courts in South Asia have constrained administrative discretion in environmental matters, focusing on India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Pakistan. It analyzes decisions where constitutional values; environmental justice, rule of law, transparency, and proportionality, guide sustainable governance. Across these jurisdictions, courts treat environmental protection as part of the constitutional order, often via public- interest litigation. For example, the apex courts in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have adopted broad standing rules to allow citizens to challenge ecological harm. In India, the Supreme Court interprets Article 21 (Right to Life) to include environmental quality, requiring full disclosure in project clearances. Bangladesh’s constitution (Art.18A) directs the state to protect the environment, and its Supreme Court has granted legal personhood to rivers (the 2020 Turag case) to uphold ecological rights. Sri Lanka lacks a justiciable environmental right, but its Directive Principles (Art.27(14)) and citizens’ duties (Art.28(f)) underpin a public-trust obligation to preserve nature. Nepal’s 2015 Constitution explicitly guarantees a clean environment (Art.30), and its Supreme Court recently halted the proposed excavation of the Chure hills, invoking precautionary and sustainable-development principles. In Pakistan’s Shehla Zia v. WAPDA, the Supreme Court read a “right to a clean environment” into Article 9 and applied the precautionary principle to balance development with ecological integrity. Comparatively, these legal systems converge on empowering courts to check administrative excesses in environmental governance, even as they diverge in constitutional design and enforcement models. This judicially driven convergence reflects a distinctive South Asian jurisprudence of sustainable governance, one that anchors administrative discretion within constitutional values of justice, participation, and ecological stewardship. By tracing these common doctrinal currents, the paper argues that environmental constitutionalism in South Asia is not merely a national phenomenon but a regional movement, capable of informing cross-border cooperation and shared governance frameworks. Keywords: Administrative Discretion, Environmental Justice, Sustainable Governance, Comparative Constitutional Law, Judicial Review and Accountability.
Biography
Dr. Anupama Goel started teaching at Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh in 1994. She was conferred her Doctorate of Philosophy by the Panjab University, Chandigarh in 2003, for her thesis titled “Social Justice and its Implementation with Special Reference to the State of Punjab”. She has taught diverse subjects to LL.B, LL.M. as well as Ph.D. students, including Constitutional Law, International Law, Interpretation of Statutes, Environmental Law, Human Rights and Law of Torts. She has also published various papers on different areas of law in prestigious journals, including the Journal of the Indian Law Institute (JILI). While at Panjab University, was a founding member of Placement cum Counselling Cell of Department of Laws, Panjab University, Chandigarh. She also remained a member of the Board of Control on various occasions. She joined NLU Delhi in August 2012 as Associate Professor (Law), and has taught Constitutional Law and International Law to undergraduate students, and Comparative Public Law to postgraduate students. She has been a member of Academic Council and Executive Council at the National Law University for the year 2013-2014. She is currently a member of the Postgraduate Council. Life member of Indian Law Institute and also a member of Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi.
