Supreme Court of India

Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar and Ors.

Neutral citation

Reported as [1991] 1 S.C.R. 5

Bench K.N. Singh and N.D. Ojha JJ.

Decided 9 January 1991

INSC stands for INDIAN SUPREME COURT. A neutral citation scheme assigned by the Court itself, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter. INSC is the neutral citation scheme assigned by the Supreme Court, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter.

5 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

In view of the above discussion we are of the opinion that this petition has been filed not in any public interest but for the petitioner's personal interest and for these reasons we dismissed the same and directed that the petitioner shall pay Rs. 5,000 as costs.

Judgment, page 10

From the headnote

Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974: Sections 17, 24, 25 and 26. Constitution of India, 1950: Article 21-Right to live includes right to enjoyment of pollution free water and air- citizen has a right to invoke Article 32 for removing pollution. Article 32-Writ petition in public interest-Allegation that West Bokaro Collieries and Tata Iron and Steel Company are polluting the river Bokaro by discharging slurry from their washeries into the river- No material to substantiate the allegations-Held petition is not in public interest but for personal interest. Public Interest

Authorities it was built on

1990 Chhetriya Pardushan Mukti Sangharsh Samiti v. State of U.p and Ors. cited by 6

Where later benches applied it

2024 Gene Campaign & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. relied on
2014 National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India and Others relied on
2025 Vellore District Environment Monitoring Committee Rep. by its Secretary Mr. R. Rajebdran v. The District Collector, Vellore District & Others referred to
2024 Vedanta Limited v. The State of Tamil Nadu & Ors referred to
2015 Hindustan Zinc Ltd v. Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission referred to

Of those, 2 relied on · 3 referred to

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