The Role of Judiciary in dealing with Environmental Issues: Section 133 of CrPC, 1973

As we are living in a generation where protection of Environment is a necessity, Environmental Laws play a major role. This paper analyses such Environmental Law Provisions in India. The Pollution cases in India are generally categorised into five broad classes. These include Tortious liability, Nuisance, Trespass, Negligence and Strict liability. Under Chapter X, the Criminal Procedure Code deals with Public Nuisance. Section 133 of the Code of Criminal Procedure plays an important role in dealing with such Nuisance. Under this Section any district magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate, could issue a conditional order to stop such nuisance. The role of Judiciary in upholding, interpreting and widening the scope of Section 133 is assessed in this paper. The trend can be assessed as such that the Judiciary has played a pivotal role in curbing public nuisance by applying Section 133. There are limitation under the Section as all the conditions need to be followed by the Magistrate before issuing an order. In a country with various cultures and traditions, the need to educate public on environmental issues and removal of public nuisance is paramount.