public trust doctrine
Under the public trust doctrine, certain resources are so important to the people as a whole that the State holds them as trustee, not as owner. It must protect them for public use and cannot convert them to private ownership or commercial use in a way that destroys their natural character.
The doctrine came from Roman law and American cases. The Supreme Court adopted it in M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, where a lease of riverbed and forest land to a motel company was quashed, read with Article 21. It has since been applied to lakes, parks and spectrum. It is a restraint on the State's power over common resources, and complements the polluter pays and precautionary principles.
Example
Under the public trust doctrine, the State could not lease the lake bed for a private resort that would destroy it.
In Indian law
See also
polluter pays principle · precautionary principle · sustainable development · res communis omnium
Read more in the study notes
- Intergenerational equity and the public trust doctrine (Environmental Law)
- Social audit: meaning, objectives, steps in a social audit programme, the social audit report, advantages and limitations (Cost and Management Accounting)
- Public interest litigation petition (Drafting, Pleading and Conveyance)
- Ancient and medieval writings, environmental jurisprudence and national environmental policy (Environmental Law)
- Environmental policy and law before and after independence (Environmental Law)
- Forest conservation: the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 and the judicial approach (Environmental Law)