Role of Relevant Court and Department in Facilitating Environmental Jutsice in Bangladesh

Abstract

The thesis discusses the role of Environment Courts and the Department of Environment (DoE) of the Government of Bangladesh in facilitating environmental justice in Bangladesh in a descriptive mode and makes a case for some recommendations for better environmental justice in Bangladesh. For ascertaining that role, the environment-related laws, the institutional set-up for applying environmental laws, and the role of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in developing legal concepts including remedies and standing laws have been discussed. With a view to ascertaining the role of the above relevant courts and departments, their legal character, responsibilities, functions, limitations, mutual relationships, etc. have been pointed out. There was also an endeavor to suggest some guidelines with a view to improving the regulatory regime of environment in Bangladesh, as well as to ensuring sound, steady, and coherent well-functioning of Environment Courts as well as DoE in the country. Chapter I includes the problem statement; research questions; operational definitions; objectives of the study; review of the literature to find out the existing knowledge, ideas and the gap, if any, on the topic of the study; rationale, utility and feasibility of the study; scope of the study and limitations thereof; the research design of the study including sources of data, data collection, selection of research method, data analysis, interpretation and time reference. Briefly the chapter mentions the reasons behind undertaking the study as well as the way the study was done and the study findings were put forward. Chapter II deals with regulatory regime of environment in Bangladesh. This chapter has described and examined some important and relevant environmental laws and policies of Bangladesh as well as the institutional set-up for implementation of those laws. The discussion points to some relevant environment-related policies and their making in Bangladesh; sources and scope of environmental laws; environmental issues in the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh; classification of environmental laws from different perspectives; salient features of laws impliedly specified as environmental laws by the Government of Bangladesh and of other environment related laws as applied by the DoE; major lacunae in environment related laws and policies and several recommendations for improvement of the legal regime of Bangladesh. The chapter also touched the institutional set up engaged in environmentally related activities in Bangladesh. It mainly focused on the major government institutions and adjudicatory bodies including the Supreme Court, the Environment Court and the Court of the Special Magistrate. Chapter Ill is a special focus on the judicial approach to the development of environmental remedies and standing by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh by way of Public Interest Environmental Litigation (PIEL) and judicial activism in Bangladesh. Though mainly the role of Supreme Court of Bangladesh in developing PIEL has been discussed in this chapter, role of the apex courts of India and Pakistan as well as of some South Asian countries is also pointed out in brief. The chapter deals with two important concepts namely Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and PIEL and their value in facilitating environmental justice. The chapter describes some aspects of PIEL in Bangladesh including development of PIEL; constitutional mandate and basis of PIEL; standing of PIL/PIEL; different approach of procedures and remedies in PIEL; legal aid in PIEL; application of international environmental laws (that is, sustainable development, intergenerational equity, precautionary principle, polluter pays principle) by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and judicial activism in PIEL. The chapter also evaluates the judicial role of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in a number of landmark judgments on different aspects of environment. Chapter IV is about the role of Department of Environment in facilitating environmental justice in Bangladesh. The evolution of the department and its mandate, mission, core functions, activities, powers, etc. together with the legal base have been discussed. Since the Department has to act jointly with the relevant Courts in prosecuting some environmental offences in Environment Courts and in Special Magistrates Courts, powers and functions of the department under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995, Environment Conservation Rules 1997 and Environment Court Act 2000 have been discussed elaborately. Salient features of these special environmental laws have also been pointed out. The chapter's special focus is on the major problems faced by the DoE in handling environmental offences and prosecuting thereof in Environment Courts. There is also made some suggestions with a view to solving the problems and thereby improving the role of DoE in facilitating environmental justice in Bangladesh.

Chapter V has evaluated the role of Environment Courts in facilitating access to environmental justice in Bangladesh. The background and principle of access to environmental justice; jurisdiction, procedures, power and functions of Environment Courts; environmental offences and remedies thereof under the environmental laws as well as under different substantive and procedural laws of the country; trial of some environmental offences by Special Magistrates; mobile courts in prosecuting some environmental cases; public prosecutors in Environment Courts, etc. have been elaborately discussed. The special focus is on the access to environmental justice in Environment Courts and on the major problems in handling and prosecuting environmental litigations in Environment Courts. Lastly the chapter has briefly suggested some guidelines for improving Environment Court's role in giving access to environmental justice. Chapter VI, the concluding chapter, gives an overall picture of the discussions made in the previous chapters including areas for future research. This chapter also sums up the recommendations for better role of the Department of Environment and of Environment Courts in facilitating environmental justice in Bangladesh.