It is necessary to create awareness about the norms and projected environmental restrictions under which organization may have environmental regulations and legislations rests with a number of different agencies. Central government is responsible for enforcement of various environmental legislation for less polluting small scale industries. There is an urgent need to use a range of measures to complement regulations.
 |
| Issues Involved in the Enforcement of Environmental Legislation |
It should be a must for all potential polluters to apply permission to operate, discharge or emit any pollutants. In addition there should be a greater monitoring. The technique of environmental assessment is applied to ensure that the significance of potential environmental impacts of proposed projects are critically examined during the planning process. Another way of increasing awareness on environmental protection is the introduction of voluntary scheme under which companies which would meet certain standard of environmental property of their products.
The various expectations in different types of pollution are as follows:
1. Water Pollution:
Under the water resource act of the country it should be criminal offence to cause or knowingly permit the entry in to controlled water of any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter or any other solid matter, trade or sewage effluent without the consent. Accidental spillage or discharge of such materials should be treated as an offence.
2. Air Pollution:
The legal responsibility about air pollution may be found in terms of the environmental protection act, covering two complementary systems of air pollution
(1) The most potentially polluting activities.
(2) The major sources of air pollution are
(a) Emission from industrial sources(b) Emission from motors vehicles(c) Emission from other sources.
Thus, to prevent air pollution, rules and regulations are required to be framed.
3. Wastes Disposal:
They may be regulatory bodies for waste disposal, waste collection. These should also be directives relating to waste on the disposal of waste oil, the disposal of polychlorinated biphenyl, and polychlorinated phenyls.
After the united Nation's Conference on Human Environment in 1972 the Environmental legislation got a fresh impieties Indian first systematic approach in dealing with the environmental issues started from water Act of 1974. This Act was amended in 1988 and a new section 33 A was introduced which empowers state boards to issue directives to any person to close any industry and to stop or regulate supply of water and electricity. Because of the continuing environmental degradation and the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1974 the central government enacted fresh legislation for adopting more strict environmental policies.
Environmental Protection Act 1986 is one of the most significant legislation to protect the environment. Under Article 48A, the addition was made to the directive principles of state policy as the state shall endeavors to protect and improve the environment and safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country. Article 51A (g| imposes high responsibility on every citizen to protect the environment and improve natural resources, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife.
Every citizen has a choice of few records to mitigate pollution. These are
(1) a common law and action
(2) a writ petition for completing the agency to enforce the law and
(3) a citizen suit.
An upcoming industry must submit No Objection Certificate in respect of pollution before it starts the implementation process. In case of a large project, it should submit Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) to the Govt. of India for final clearance of the project.
Recently Supreme Court of India emphasized on the need to strengthen some institutional machinery to enforce antipollution law across the state. Supreme Court has further suggested that Government should set up special courts exclusively to deal with cases relating to violation of environmental laws. Supreme Court has also suggested that chemical industries should be treated separately. In 1996, Supreme Court has ordered Union Government and local authorities to keep clean the historical places on a regular basis.
Awareness
It is evident that the growing number of poor people, in developing countries due to the rapid population growth complex with economic constraints contributes to the degradation of environment and the renewable to the degradation of environment and the renewable sources like water, forests, and extinction of various species on which the man depends.
For these, greater awareness is needed. Due care is necessary to harness the natural resources, so that the quality of the environment does not deteriorate. It is unfortunate to note that degradation of environment continues inspire of environmental legislations and standardization. One of the reasons for this is improper implementation of the various environmental laws and standards. The most important reason may lack of awareness and understanding the implicate environmental degradation.