Judicial Adjudication in South Asia: Water Pollution, International Law, and Indigeneity

Speaker: Lovleen Bhullar is a doctoral candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is also associated with the Environmental Law Research Society (ELRS), a non-governmental organization based in New Delhi. Lovleen holds an undergraduate degree in Law from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, an LLM in Environmental Law from SOAS University of London and an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research interests include the rights to environment, water and sanitation and the associated domestic law and policy frameworks. She is the co-editor of Water Governance: An Evaluation of Alternative Architectures (Edward Elgar 2013) and Sanitation Law and Policy in India – An Introduction to Basic Instruments (Oxford University Press 2015).

Abstract: Water pollution and poor water quality adversely affect the environment, human health and the economy. Countries in South Asia have enacted laws and formulated policies to regulate certain aspects of water pollution/quality. In addition, litigants and/or courts have adopted a rights-based approach and relied on judicial enforcement of the rights to environment, health, water and sanitation and the corresponding duties of State (and non-State actors!) to address the problem. These rights and duties form a part of international human rights law and have entered the domestic legal framework in some countries, either explicitly or implicitly. In some cases, judicial adjudication is also informed by certain principles of international environmental law. This presentation has two objectives: (i) to unpack the treatment of water pollution/quality in international environmental law and international human rights law; and (ii) to examine the pathway of transmission from international law into domestic environmental jurisprudence in South Asia (especially India), and the detours and shortcuts.

Primary Discussant: Navya Jannu is an MPhil candidate in Law at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on Renewable Energy in South Asia. She completed her BCL with Distinction in 2017 from the University of Oxford and BA, LLB (Hons) from Jindal Global Law School in 2016. She is an HSA Advocates Award Scholar, and is supervised by Professor Liz Fisher.

Blogger: Vanshaj Jain is a BCL candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. He is a 2017 Rhodes Scholar at Exeter College. Vanshaj obtained his undergraduate degree in law from the National Law School of India University. His areas of interest are public international law, commercial law and dispute resolution.