"We cannot deny the fact that the judicial orders are passed out of necessity for the enforcement of the laws only when system of governance fails to implement it.
"The judgments and orders passed by the court compel the discharge of constitutional and statutory duties. More often than not, the Supreme Court has to step in to protect the environment on account of failures of state machinery," he said.
Referring to various judgements, the CJI said, "In the ongoing environment protection campaign, the role of Indian judiciary is no less significant. It is a matter of pride for the Indian judiciary that the movement of protection and conservation started because of the proactive role of the India judiciary and the Supreme Court.
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At a function, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and others including Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, the CJI said the "plunder" of natural resources for "greed" may endanger the life on earth and there was a need for "prudent use of available resources".
The CJI also referred to the evolution of environment case laws and said India has been among few nations in the world which have recognised the right to clean environment as a part of the fundamental right.
The CJI also cited some historic cases where apex court went the extra mile to ensure protection of environment.
"Accordingly, whether it is Taj Mahal case, the Ganges pollution case, the Delhi traffic police case and the forest cases... The Supreme court had to step in to devise mechanism to safeguard the health of the people from toxic pollutants which situational necessity would not have arisen if the enforcement of the law by the statutory body have been effective as it should have been," he said.
Justice Thakur also stressed the need to find a balance between need to development and maintaining the environment saying India has large population and they needed to grow and develop without causing more harm to the ecology.
"India doubtless is the first country to consider the issue of environmental protection in its basic documents of governance," he said.
The CJI also said the Supreme Court, in 1996, incorporated the international environmental principle of "polluter pays" in one of the cases.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, in his speech, lauded the efforts of the NDA government in taking steps for protecting the environment and referred to its flagship schemes like 'Swachh Bharat' and 'Clean Ganga' programmes.
Justice Swatanter Kumar, the chairperson of the National Green Tribunal, lauded the efforts of the Modi government on environment front and referred to the 2015 Paris summit where the Indian stand on climate justice has found mention in the preamble of the resolution.