Constitution of India and Environmental Governance: Administrative and Adjudicatory Process

By Prof. Sairam Bhat, Prof. M. K. Ramesh | National Law School of India University

Learners enrolled: 3860 | Exam registration: 1279

About the Course :

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INTENDED AUDIENCE: Students, Academicians, Research Scholars, NGOs and Civil Society Organisations, Policy Makers, Members of Regulatory Agencies, EHS Officers, Environmental Auditors, Environmental Law Compliance Officers, Entrepreneurs and Implementational Agencies.

PREREQUISITES: Under Graduation

INDUSTRIES SUPPOR T:

1.All industries requiring an environmental compliance to operate.

2.All Departments and Ministries of the Government.

3.All governmental authorities/regulators such as Pollution Control Boards, in environmental compliances.

4.All Public Sector Undertakings

5.All Public Universities and bodies owned and controlled and substantially financed by the Government.

6.All non-governmental organisations substantially financed by the Government.

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Constitutional Law Energy, Climate and Sustainability
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	22 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	25 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Foundational basis of Environmental Law and Governance

Week 2: Principles of Environmental Governance – Legal Instruments

Week 3: Emerging Trends in Environmental Law and Governance

Week 4: Constitution of India and the Environment

Week 5: Pollution Control Laws: Administrative process

Week 6: Environment Protection Act: Administrative process through delegated legislations

Week 7: Waste Management Laws: Role of Municipalities and other agencies

Week 8: Forest Management in India

Week 9: Judiciary and the role of continuing mandamus

Week 10: Biodiversity Laws and its Application –ABS Guidelines

Week 11: Wildlife Protection and management

Week 12: Adjudicatory Mechanisms- SC, HC, NGT

Books and references

1. Philippe Sands, Principles of International Environmental Law, Cambridge, 2018

2. Indian Environmental Law: Key Concepts and Principles, ed. Shibani Ghosh, Orient BlackSwan (2019).

3. Nawneet Vibhaw, Environmental Law: An Introduction, LexisNexis (2016).

4. Shyam Divan and Armin Rosencranz, Environmental Law and Policy in India: Cases, Material & Statutes -

5. Surendra Malik and Sudeep Malik, Supreme Court on Environmental Law, Eastern Book Co. (2015).

6. Lavanya Rajamani (2007), The Right to Environmental Protection in India: Many a Slip between the Cup and the Lip? Review of European Community & International Environmental Law (RECIEL), 16: 274–286.

7. Justice T S Doabia (2010) Environmental and Pollution Laws in India, Lexis Nexis Butterworths Wadhwa. Chapters 10 and 11.

8.P. Cullet (2010), Water Sector Reforms and Courts in India: Lessons from the Evolving Case Law.

9. S Ghosh, S Lele, N Henle, Appellate Authorities under Pollution Control Laws in India: Powers, Problems and Potential, LEAD 2018

10. Ritwick Dutta and Bhupender Yadav (2012) Supreme Court on Forest Conservation, Universal Law Publishing. Introduction (The Court’s Journey through Forests) and Chapter1.

11. Gitanjali Gill, Environmental Justice in India: The National Green Tribunal, Routledge (2016)

12. Abhayraj Naik and Parul Kumar, India’s Domestic Climate Policy is Fragmented and Lacks Clarity, available at https://www.epw.in/engage/article/indias-domestic-climate-policy-fragmented-lacks-clarity

13. Lavanya Rajamani and Navroz Dubash, Rethinking India’s Approach to International and Domestic Climate Policy, June 2019, available at https://www.cprindia.org/policy-challenge/7859/climate-energy-and-the-environment

14. Jon Hovi, Tora Skodvin and Stine Aakre, Can Climate Change Negotiations Succeed?

15. Suggested Documentaries- Climate Change the Facts, BBC (April, 2019)

Instructor bio

Prof. Sairam Bhat

National Law School of India University

Prof. Dr. Sairam Bhat, Professor of Law at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, India’s pioneer legal institution, with over 20 years of experience in the legal fraternity. His areas of specialization include the Law relating to Public Private Partnerships, Competition Law, Tendering, Contract Management, Environment Protection and the Law on Right to Information.

He has served as a Consultant to several Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations and has conducted several training programmes and workshops for various officers of Government of India, and other State Governments under the aegis of various government bodies including the Administrative Training Institute, Mysore; National Academy of Direct Taxes, Delhi; Vaizag Steel; Central Silk Board; National Productivity Council; GIPARD, Goa and Fiscal Policy Institute, Bengaluru.

He did his LL.M, and Ph.D from the Department of Law, University of Mysore and has been awarded the ‘Young India Environmental Law Fellowship’ and served as Adjunct Faculty at Golden Gate University, California, USA, during the fall, 2003. As a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow, 2010, he was a ‘Visiting Researcher’ at the Georgetown University, Law Centre Washington DC, during Aug-Dec. 2010. He was also a Linnaeus-Palme Academic Exchange Fellow at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, 2012-13. He has published books titled, Natural Resources Conservation Law [SAGE], Right to Information [Eastern Book House], Contracts, Agreements and Public Policy [NLSIU Book Series -1], Energy Law and Policy in India [NLSIU Book Series-2], Right to Information and Good Governance [NLSIU Books Series-3]. He is also the Chief Editor of the Journal on Environmental Law, Policy and Development and Journal on Law and Public Policy, published by NLSIU.

Prof. M. K. Ramesh

Prof. Dr. M. K. Ramesh, Professor of Law, is the Chair Professor for the Chair on Urban Poor and Law constituted by Union Ministry of Housing and Poverty Alleviation. He was Chairman of the Post Graduate and Doctoral Council. He received Post-Doctoral Fulbright Fellow (Oct.2005-Jun.2006) Published a few books and over 50 research articles concerning a wide range of legal issues he is also Editor of the Indian Journal of Environmental Law. Adjunct Professor in IIT, Kharagpur. Visiting Professor at KTH (-Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden (Feb.-Mar. 2010 and Sept.2011), at The Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland, Management Schools, Forest Research Institutes, Judicial Academies and Human Rights Organizations in India. He assisted international bodies such as UNDP, UNEP, ADB, World Bank, IUCN, various NGOs and academic and research institutions (both domestically and internationally) and he is assisting the state and central governments in drafting polices and legislations. Contributor to environmental law policy development by engaging in a number of legislative drafting exercises, His Areas of specialization: International Law, Human Rights Law and Environmental Law. Land law etc.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: October 25, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team