Supreme Court issues notice on plea seeking creation of new All India Service as "The Indian Environment Service"

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The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice on a plea seeking the creation of the All India Service “The Indian Environment Service'', considering the turmoil all over the country concerning environmental issues.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh stated that "the prayer is in pursuance to TSR Subramaniam Committee report of 2014, thus we are inclined to issue notice."

The petition has been filed by Advocate Samar Vijay Singh represented through Senior Advocate K Sultan Singh stating that there is no effective coordination amongst various Ministries/ Institutions regarding the integration of environmental concerns. There is a lack of trained personnel involved in the administration, policy formulation, and supervising the implementation of policies of the State Government and Central Government.

In addition to this, it has stated that, "India has developed a comprehensive framework of legislation and regulations relating to the protection and conservation of the environment. However, due to problems of implementation and enforcement many of the set goals have not come to fruition."

The plea submitted that a High-Level Committee was constituted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) under the chairmanship of Mr. TSR Subramanian to review the environmental laws in the country in order to bring them in line with current requirements which had recommended to create a new all India service as “Indian Environment Service”.

The plea has further sought a direction to the Central Government to set up the Indian Environmental Service Academy to train officers for Environmental Law Enforcement.

Cause Title: Samar Vijay Singh Vs. Union of India and Ors.