Important Point—Violation of Article 21 on account of alleged environmental violation cannot be subjectively and individually determined when parameters of permissible/impermissible conduct are required to be legislatively or statutorily determined.

Judgment :-

Ranjan Gogoi, J.

1. The appellants are the owners of Hotels, Beach Resorts and Beach Bungalows in Goa who have been facing the prospect of demolition of their properties for the last several decades. The respondent-Goa Foundation is a non- Governmental body who claims to be dedicated to the cause of environmental and ecological well being of the State of Goa. The respondent-Goa Foundation had filed parallel writ petitions before the High Court for demolition of the allegedly illegal constructions raised by the appellants. Both sets of writ petitions i.e. those filed by the appellants against the orders of demolition by the State Authorities and the writ petitions filed by the Goa Foundation seeking demolition of constructions raised by each of the appellants were heard together by the Bombay High Court. The High Court, by separate impugned orders dated 13th July, 2000, had upheld the orders passed by the authorities requiring the appellants to demolish the existing structures. It is against the aforesaid orders passed by the High Court that the present group of appeals have been filed upon grant of leave by this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution of India.

2. The constructions raised by the appellants are not per se illegal in the conventional sense. They are not without permission and sanction of the competent authority. What has been alleged by the State and has been approved by the High Court is that such constructions are in derogation of the environmental guidelines in force warranting demolition of the same as a step to safeguard the environment of the beaches in Goa. Specifically, it is the case of the State that the constructions in question are between 90 to 200 meters from the High Tide Line (HTL) despite the fact that under the guidelines in force, which partake the character of law, constructions within 500 meters of the HTL are prohibited except in rare situations where construction activity between 200 to 500 meters from the HTL are permitted subject to observance of strict conditions. Admittedly, all constructions, though completed on different dates and in different phases, were so completed before the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) were enacted (w.e.f.19th February, 1991) in exercise of the powers under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

3. The above basis on which the impugned action of the State is founded has been sought to be answered by the appellants by contending that at the relevant point of time when building permissions and sanctions were granted in respect of the constructions undertaken, the prohibition was with regard to construction within 90 meters from the HTL. Admittedly, none of the constructions are within the said divide. The guidelines, detailed reference to which are made in the succeeding paragraphs of the present order, are not ‘law’ so as to constitute activities contrary thereto as acts of infringement of the law and hence illegal. Such guidelines do not confer the power of enforcement and lack the authority to bring about any penal consequences.

4. Having very broadly noticed the contours of the adjudication that the present case would require, we may now proceed to consider the stand of the rival parties with some elaboration. The Stockholm declaration of 1972 to which India was the party is the foundation of the State’s claim that the guidelines in question, being in implementation of India’s international commitments, engraft a legal framework by executive action under Article 73 of the Constitution. The said guidelines are in conformity with the Nation’s commitment to international values in the matter of preservation of the pristine purity of sea beaches and to prevent its ecological degradation. Such commitment to an established feature of International Law stands engrafted in the Municipal Laws of the country by incorporation. The guidelines commencing with the instructions conveyed by the Prime Minister of India in a letter dated 27th November, 1981 addresse