Says Delep Goswami, secretary, Society for Development of Environment Laws and Management (SCELM): "Information and training in environmental legal issues, which is acquiring increasing importance, is woefully inadequate in our country.'' SCELM has been formed by a group of advocates with with a former judge of Kerala High Court, T L Vishwanath Iyer, as president.

For starters, SCELM plans to collate together a database of various legal cases and judgments given in various courts. ``Environment is a state subject and despite efforts by the central government to formulate universal laws, norms do vary from state tostate. Even the judiciary has chosen to interpret laws relating to environment in different ways," says Goswami. This, he says, has led to `non-uniform' judgments for the same company operating out of different states. The society plans bring in one place all the various green judgments to facilitate dealing with the issue.

The main objectives of SCELM, according to Goswami, are dissemination of knowledge about ecology and environment and to undertake interdisciplinary studies and measures to integrate environmental law. It also aims to devise and recommend practical tools and workable solutions by forging unity between industry, enforcement agencies, bureaucracy and judiciary to work out sustainable strategies.

SCELM also seeks to establish a resource base for environment law related issues and an exhaustive compilation of relevant court decisions in India and abroad. Says Goswami, ``We plan to compile more than 300 related cases by the end of this year.''

The society is also working on devisingprogrammes to train officials from the industry, court, and NGOs on eco-law related issues and to advise and assist the industry in finding viable eco-friendly technologies. ``The key people in industry such as engineers are often totally in the dark about relevant environmental laws and norms. So sensitising and training these people will lead to more compliance with pollution and others norms,'' says Goswami.

The first organisation in the country to focus on environmental legal issues, SCELM recently organised a seminar entitled Environmental Law: Current Court Rulings on Corporate Liabilities.

SCELM advocates the setting up of a single authority where citizens can file complaints about pollution hazards. This tribunal or authority could be empowered to dispose of the complaints within a time frame. ``We recommend that this redressal forum could be structured somewhat similar to the consumer courts, where complaints are sorted out within a time-frame of 90 days," says Goswami.

SCELM is also in favourof some uniform and mandatory guidelines under which various polluting industries are required to set aside a specified percentage of their turnover in R&D that will focus on improving technological processes for greater resource conservation. Industries spending on this front should also be given tax benefits, says Goswami.