Delhi HC rejects LLM student’s plea seeking Rs 15 lakh compensation, insurance on account of air pollution

Justice Yashwant Varma told the petitioner that the court was a serious place and filing a petition was not a tool for his resume.

The court also pointed out that there was no material on record to even remotely establish any personal injury to the petitioner because of pollution.

A court is a serious place and the filing or the right to file a petition in this court is not merely a tool for your resume or your CV. Next time you have a serious issue to raise, you are most welcome to do so, the court remarked.

The writ petition is misconceived and is accordingly dismissed, the court stated.

According to the petitioner, Shivam Pandey, an LLM student, pollution is a slow poison that reduces the life of a person by five to nine years.

The court asked the petitioner to show any record of the personal injury suffered by him, any medical report or evidence, or any history of treatment that he might have gone through after suffering due to air pollution.

The petitioner said that he was facing breathing issues and personal injury due to pollution that would become apparent only in his old age.

In his petition, the petitioner sought Rs 15 lakh as compensation for specific and exemplary damages caused to him, besides health insurance for himself from the Centre and the Delhi Government due to poor air quality.

He contended that pollution was the primary cause of many diseases as it severely affects human health.

The petition said that air pollution specifically leads to adverse impacts on human health and results in chronic headache, eye irritation, skin irritation, problems in respiratory functions as well as associated morbidity.

The plea also claimed that air pollution can lead to serious lung diseases and cancer.

It emphasized that the Supreme Court has already expanded the scope of Article 21 of the Constitution of India by holding the Right to clean pollution-free environment as a fundamental right.

(With inputs from PTI)

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