CSR must inherently include environment & ecology, rules SC

NEW DELHI: In an important decision to nudge the corporate sector to play an active role to protect the environment, Supreme Court on Friday brought the issues of ecology and environment within corporate social responsibility and passed a slew of directions to protect the Great Indian Bustard, which is on the verge of extinction and faces threat from operation of non-renewable power generators in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar asked the non-renewable power generators operating in priority and non-priority areas in Rajasthan and Gujarat to remember they share the environment with the GIB and must undertake their activities as if they are guests in its abode.

Green funds not charity but constitutional obligation: SC

Elaborating on the role of the private sector in the issue of environment, the bench said the corporate definition of social responsibility must inherently include environmental responsibility. “Companies cannot assert to be socially responsible while ignoring equal claims of the environment and other beings of the ecosystem. The Constitution, under Article 51A(g), imposes a fundamental duty on every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment.... A corporation, as a legal person and a key organ of society, shares this fundamental duty. CSR funds are the tangible expression of this duty. Consequently, allocating funds for the protection of environment is not a voluntary act of charity but a fulfilment of a constitutional obligation,” Justice Narasimha, who penned the judgment for the bench, said.

SC said CSR provision codifies the principle that corporate profit is not solely the private property of shareholders, but is partly owed to society that enables its generation. The bench accepted the recommendation of a court-appointed committee for preservation of GIB despite opposition from power generators. It approved revised priority conservation areas of 14,013 sq km in Rajasthan and 740 sq km in Gujarat. It also approved panel recommendation on blanket ban on the installation of solar projects over 2MW capacity or the laying of overhead transmission lines. The court said survival of GIB is a shared cultural responsibility, as the bird represents not just a species but the unique natural heritage and resilience of the arid landscapes.

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