Justice Surya Kant calls for Indian, Sri Lankan judiciaries to champion model of regional environmental constitutionalism

New Delhi [India], October 22 (ANI): Justice Surya Kant, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, has called for the Indian and Sri Lankan judiciaries to jointly champion a model of regional environmental constitutionalism - recognising that certain imminent environmental rights and duties transcend borders.
Justice Kant was delivering the keynote address at the Indo-Sri Lanka Policy Dialogue on Advancing Environmental Sustainability and Regional Cooperation, organised by the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo.
He said sustained environmental cooperation also depends on informed citizen engagement.
Universities, legal institutes, and non-governmental organisations can function as transnational epistemic communities--generating data, influencing litigation, and cultivating ecological consciousness, Justice Kant added.
He said that both courts (of India and Sri Lanka) have thus increasingly drawn on international environmental norms, illustrating a nascent regional environmental constitutionalism.
"Although there has not been regular formal dialogue between the Indian and Sri Lankan judiciaries in the past, their jurisprudence reflects a converging moral imagination about environmental stewardship. In the absence of robust regional institutions, courts become de facto arenas for transnational accountability. Judicial pronouncements influence Executive behaviour, compel environmental reporting, and often drive policy reform. The potential for structured judicial dialogue could formalise this exchange and strengthen the normative coherence of environmental law between the two jurisdictions," he said.
Justice Kant further added, "In the face of these pressing issues, the time is ripe for the Indian and Sri Lankan judiciaries to champion a model of regional environmental constitutionalism--recognising that certain imminent environmental rights and duties transcend borders."

Environmental cooperation between India and Sri Lanka is not a matter of charity or diplomacy--it is a matter of survival, he told the gathering, adding that the Bay of Bengal does not divide us; it binds us through a shared ecological fate.
"The judiciary, through its moral authority and interpretive ability, has shown how justice can be ecological, intergenerational, and regional. What remains is for policy frameworks to match this judicial vision. Let us, therefore, reimagine the Indo-Sri Lankan partnership not merely as a bilateral relationship but as a collective guardianship of the Indian Ocean commons--where our cooperation is measured not in treaties signed, but in ecosystems restored and communities made resilient," said Justice Kant.
He said that India and Sri Lanka have, for centuries, been closely connected not merely by culture and trade, but by the ecology of the Indian Ocean itself.
"Presently, as environmental degradation accelerates, our shared geography imposes a collective responsibility. It seems to me that today's deliberation should not merely revolve around whether Indo-Sri Lankan cooperation is desirable; rather, they should focus on how to evolve fast enough to meet the transboundary challenges that threaten both nations," added Justice Kant.
Long before our political boundaries were sketched, the seas between India and Sri Lanka were arteries of exchange--of faith, culture, and ideas, he said.
"The Chola maritime expeditions, the Buddhist scholastic linkages between Anuradhapura and Nalanda, and our most significant itihasic heritage rooted in the Ramayana, illustrate how the Indian Ocean was once a space of continuity," he further said.
He expressed concern that beneath the calm turquoise waters of the Palk Strait lie stories of ecological fragility--oil spills drifting from one shore to another, coral reefs bleaching under common warming currents, and fishing communities whose livelihoods depend on decisions made in two capitals.
Justice Kant highlighted how the Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, once biodiversity hotspots, are now under severe stress from overfishing, destructive trawling, and unregulated coastal activity.
He said the recurring confrontations between Indian trawlers and Sri Lankan fishers epitomise a deeper ecological tragedy--competition for an exhausted resource base.
Drawing attention to the effects of climate change, including saltwater intrusion, microplastic accumulation, and uncoordinated disaster responses, he called for joint monitoring and data sharing.
"The impact of climate change and, consequently, rising sea levels threatens coastal zones in both Tamil Nadu and Northern Sri Lanka. The most immediate effect of this disturbing shift has been on agriculture due to saltwater intrusion and unpredictable monsoons, which have disrupted fisheries. Similarly, microplastics, oil residue from shipping lanes, and agricultural runoff accumulate in the same marine currents that circulate between the two nations. Without joint monitoring and data sharing, these problems have remained scattered and untracked," Justice Kant further added. (ANI)