CJI calls for balance between environmental protection and development

The question before Indian courts is no longer conservation versus development but how the two can be harmonised and sustained together, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Saturday and described the apex court as the "banyan tree" of environmental justice.

Tracing four decades of the Supreme Court's environmental jurisprudence, the CJI said there was no single constitutional route to environmental protection and cautioned against copy-paste decisions.

Recently, he said, the apex court has articulated the idea of "eco-centric proportionality", postulating that environmental protection must be rigorous yet intelligent enough to engage with the world as it exists.

"This notion has advanced a paradigm shift by permitting development solely in conjunction with enforceable conditions, expert oversight, restoration, compensatory afforestation and accountability," the CJI said.

The CJI was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day international conference on the topic 'The Futur