Case Commentary: M.K. Ranjitsinh & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors

The landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India addresses one of the most pressing constitutional conundrums of the twenty-first century: the tension between the need to use renewable energy to combat climate change and the preservation of biodiversity. Ardeotis nigriceps, the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB), and the legal challenge to overhead electricity transmission lines that traverse its habitat in Rajasthan and Gujarat are at the center of the case. The judgment is historically significant for being among the first Indian decisions to publicly acknowledge a right guaranteed by Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India to be free from the adverse effects of climate change. Acknowledging the limitations of court expertise in intricate environmental and energy policy problems, it also represents a judicial recalibration from the wide directives issued in 2021.