-Hindustan Times Mumbai: Alleging that the Centre was diluting environment protection Laws to allow construction in ecologically important areas, citizens and environment groups have filed 3,971 objections against the draft environment impact assessment (EIA) notification, 2020 proposed by the Union environment ministry. On March 12, the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) presented the new rules that will replace the 2006 EIA notification, which is presently in force, in...

-The Hindu Principle of ‘strict liability’ was made redundant in 1986 The National Green Tribunal's order on Friday in the Visakhapatnam gas tragedy found LG Polymers prima facie liable under the 19th century English Law principle of “strict liability”, which was made redundant in India by the Supreme Court in 1986. Lawyers say the term “absolute liability” should have been used instead. Even though the NGT directed the company to deposit an initial...

-The Indian Express At the time of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was the only relevant Law specifying criminal liability for such incidents. A gas leak from LG Polymers factory situated on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh killed at least 11 people on Thursday. The factory was to reopen Friday after the lockdown, and the gas began leaking as workers were preparing to resume work. Please click here...

-The Indian Express Kanchi Kohli of the Centre for Policy Research said, "Environmental Laws need to be strengthened and not relaxed as is the draft EIA. For instance, the gas leak that in Visakhapatnam today; while this is an accident, there will now have to be an investigation to see whether this was a lapse." After receiving numerous representations for extending the notice period of the draft Environment Impact Assessment notification 2020,...

-Business Standard/ TheWire.in Under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government says exempting businesses from these Laws will boost investment. But experts term the move an attack on fundamental rights. New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government has approved an ordinance exempting businesses from the purview of almost all labour Laws for the next three years in a bid to provide a fillip to investments affected by the novel coronavirus in the...