Environmental Crimes and Corporations

This research is titled ‘Environmental Crime and Corporations: Fixing Liability in the Indian Context’. Environmental/green crimes and especially environmental crimes by corporations have been on the rise, not only in India but also across the world. This research will attempt to understand and analyze various types of environmental crimes by corporations in India and across the world, especially the biggest and most damaging environmental crimes by corporations. The research is not meant to highlight these crimes from the point of view of mere facts but from a more comprehensive lens with a detailed study into the nature, causes, damage caused and subsequent liability of the perpetrators of these environmental crimes. The research will also analyze global best practices of how liability has been fixed and corporations penalized for environmental crimes. Subsequently, the author will engage in perusal of the existing legal framework in India to analyze not only the nature and impact of environmental crimes but also the lacunae in the legal system/framework in fixing liability and penalizing perpetrators. This analysis is essential because the law is often twisted and misused by corporations and therefore, fixing liability is not only cumbersome but often impossible. The research study will attempt to address this gap and act as a bridge to not only strengthen the existing legal and policy framework but also attempt to build on existing global best practices/approaches to rationalize the same in the Indian context. The research will be undertaken by perusal of authentic and reliable internal as well as external secondary sources of information to ensure that the research is not only authentic but also cohesive and relevant.