Pakistan Supreme Court Case: D. G. Khan Cement Company v Government of Punjab

Summary

On 15 April 2021, the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld a notice sent by the Provincial Government of Punjab to a cement company, prohibiting the construction and expansion of cement plants in environmentally vulnerable areas called “Negative Area”. The Supreme Court sided with the provincial government, and in its ruling, stated: “Man and his environment each need to compromise for the better of both and this peaceful co-existence requires that the law treats environmental objects as holders of legal rights.”

In 2018, the Punjab government issued a notification that restricted the expansion or establishment of cement plants in a specified area within its Chakwal and Khushab districts—pursuant to a local law from 1963 that regulates for organized and planned industrial growth.

The Court noted: “Organized and planned growth in the world today would undoubtedly mean “sustainable development” and the terms prejudicial to national interest, injurious to health and source of nuisance would naturally encompass the pressing issues of the time i.e., climate change; environmental degradation; food and health safety; air pollution; water pollution; noise pollution; soil erosion; natural disasters; and desertification and flooding having an appreciable impact on public health, food safety, natural resource conservation, environmental protection, social equity, social choice, etc.”

The Court took into consideration the precautionary principle, the principle of in dubio pro natura, environmental legal personhood, and took into context of water justice, climate change and climate justice. The Court ruled that “the environment needs to be protected in its own right. There is more to protecting nature than a human centered rights regime.” The Court emphasized the need for law to evolve over time to meet challenges of pressing issues, stating “the fragility of the Negative Area also needs to be examined in the larger context of climate change.”