Strong pitch to cultivate green lawyers

CHENNAI: There is a need for more environmental lawyers in the legal community and the failure of the legislative and judicial arms of government has resulted in the need for judicial activism in cases relating to environmental conservation, dignitaries at the inauguration of a moot court competition on environmental law have said.The inauguration of the fifth national Pro Bono Moot Court Competition, being held at the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University, saw a passionate pitch to law students gathered, to take up careers in environmental law. “There are a large number of labour and human rights lawyers. But very few environmental lawyers. More development is needed in this field,” said Justice D Hari Paranthaman of the Madras High Court.He noted that a large part of India’s environmental law had been framed by the British to preserve resources for their eventual exploitation, and the real need for environmental law was only felt in the aftermath of the Bhopal disaster. Even despite this, noted Justice Paranthaman, environmental law and concerns are being pushed to the peripheries of our policy and decision making processes.“Both the executive and the legislative arms have failed on this front. Since 1980, the Supreme Court and High Courts have had to come to the rescue, just like they have had to in other fields. The courts have done something towards environmental protection, but it is not enough,” Justice Paranthaman added.The two-day moot court competition will revolve around environmental law, where judges would pose cases concerning environmental law to the participants, who would assume prosecution and defence roles to argue the cases. Madras High Court Justice K Venkataraman and Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University Director MS Soundarapandian were among the other dignitaries at the inaugural.