Author
Prof Umakanth Varottil
Organisation/Institution
National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law
Country
SINGAPORE
Panel
Private Law
Title
Corporate Climate Litigation in India: Traversing the Private-Public Law Divide
Abstract
From a normative perspective, the private-public law paradigm in the context of climate litigation offers elegant conceptual clarity, but a positive account reveals constant boundary-blurring. The goal of this Chapter is to demonstrate this point using India as a case study. It finds significant challenges in parties’ ability to bring private law claims of the conventional type grounded in common law in India. No private law claims have, therefore, arisen as yet in the realm of climate change. At the same time, private law concepts and principles have formed the bedrock of public law adjudication in India in dealing with issues pertaining to the environment, thereby performing a supporting role rather than playing the lead act. Equally, novel developments in public law in the climate space could infuse fresh life into private law concepts relevant to corporate climate litigation, thereby signifying a cross-pollination of ideas between private and public law.
Biography
Umakanth Varottil is Vice Dean (Graduate Studies) and Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. He specializes in corporate law and governance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. While his work is generally comparative in nature, his specific focus is on India and Singapore. He has co-authored or co-edited several books and published articles in international journals. He has also taught on a visiting basis at law schools in Australia, Bhutan, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States. Umakanth is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). He is also an editor of the Indian Law Review, Asian Journal of Comparative Law, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, Oxford Business Law Blog and the ECGI Blog. Prior to his foray into academia, Umakanth was a partner at a pre-eminent law firm in India. During that time, he was also ranked as a leading corporate/mergers & acquisitions lawyer in India by the Chambers Global Guide. He has obtained law degrees from the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore (PhD), the New York University School of Law (LLM) and the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India (BA, LLB (Hons)).
