on Civil No 860 of 1991
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India
Petitioner in person G Ramaswamy Altar Ahmad Anil Katiyar AM Khanwilkar and MP Sarawala for the Respondents
The following Order of the Court was delivered This application is in public interest and has been filed by a practising advocate of this Court who has consistently been taking interestin matters relating to environment and pollution
The reliefs claimed in this application under Article 32 of the Constitution are for issuing appropriate directions to cinema exhibition halls to exhibit slides containing information and messages on environment free of cost directions for spread of infor mation relating to environment in national and regional languages and for broadcast thereof on the All India Radio and exposure thereof on the television in regular and short term programmes with a view to educating the people of India about their social obligation in the matter of the upkeep of up the environment in proper shape and making them alive to their obligation not to act as polluting agencies or fac tors
 There is also a prayer that environment should be made a compulsory subject in schools and colleges in a graded system so that there would be a general growth of awareness
We had issued notice to the Union of India on the petition and the Central Government has immediately responded
Until 1972 general awareness of mankind to the impor tance of environment for the well being of mankind had not been appropriately appreciated though over the years for more than a century there was a growing realisation that mankind had to live in tune with nature if life was to be peaceful happy and satisfied
In the name of scientific development man started distancing himself from Nature and even developed an urge to conquer nature
Our ancestors had known that nature was not subduable and therefore
had made it an obligation for man to surrender to nature and live in tune with it
Our Constitution underwent an amendment in 381 1976 by incorporating an article 51A with the heading Fundamental Duties
Clause g thereof requires every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment including forests lakes rivers and wild life and to have compassion for living creatures
Soon after the internation al conference on environment the Water Pollution Control Act of 1974 came on the statute book the Air Pollution Control Act came in 1981 and finally came the Environment Protection Act of 1986
Law is a regulator of human conduct as the professors of jurisprudence say but no law can indeed effectively work unless there is an element of acceptance by the people in society
No law works out smoothly unless the interaction is voluntary
In order that human conduct nay be m accordance with the prescription of law it is necessary that there should be appropriate awareness about what the law requires and there is an element of acceptance that the requirement of law is grounded upon a philosophy which should be fol lowed
This would be possible only when steps are taken in an adequate measure to make people aware of the indispens able necessity of their conduct being oriented in accordance with the requirements of law
There has been an explosion of human population over the last 50 years
Life has become competitive
Sense of ideal ism in the living process has systematically eroded
As a consequence of this the age old norms of good living are no longer followed
The anxiety to do good to the needy or for the society in general has died out today oblivious of the repercussions of one s actions on society everyone is prepared to do whatever is easy and convenient for his own purpose
In this backdrop if the laws are to be enforced and the malaise of pollution has to be kept under control and the environment has to be protected in an unpolluted state it is necessary that people are aware of the vice of pollution and its evil consequences
We are in a democratic polity where dissemination of information is the foundation of the system
Keeping the citizens informed is an obligation of the Government
It is equally the responsibility of society to adequately educate every component of it so that the social level is kept up
We therefore accept on principle the prayers made by the petitioner
We are happy to find that the learned Attorney General who appeare for the Union of India has also appreci ated the stand of the petitioner and has even cooperated to work out the procedure by which some of the prayers could be granted
We dispose of this writ petition with the following direc tions 382 1 Respondents 1 2  3 shall issue appropriate direc tions to the State Governments and Union Territories to invariably enforce as a condition of license of all cinema hails touring cinemas and video parlours to exhibit free of cost atleast two slidesmessages on environment in each show undertaken by them
The Ministry of Environmental should within two months from now come out with appropriate slide material which would be brief out efficiently carry the message home on various aspects of environment and pollu tion
This material should be circulated directly to the Collectors who are the licensing authorities for the cinema exhibition halls under the respective slate laws for compli ance without any further direction and helping the cinema halls and video parlours to comply with the requirements of our order
Failure to comply with our order should be treat ed as a ground for cancellation of the licence by the appro priate authorities
The material for the slides should be such that it would at once be impressive striking and leave as impact on every one who sees the slide
2 The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India should without delay start producing information films of short duration as is being done now on various aspects of environment and pollution bringing out the benefits for society on the environment being protected and the hazards involved in the environment being polluted
Mind catching aspects should be made the central theme of such short films
One such film should be shown as far as practicable
in one show every day by the cinema hails and the Central Government and the State Government are directed to ensure compliance of this condition from February 1 1992
3 Realising the importance of the matter of environ ment and the necessity of protecting it in an unpolluted for as we had suggested to learned Attorney General to have a dialogue with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as to the manner the All India Radio and Doordarshan can assist this process of education
We are happy to indicate that learned Attorney General has told us that five to seven minutes can be devoted every day and there could be once a week a longer programme
We do not want to project an impression that we are authorities on the subject but we would suggest to the programme controlling authorities of the Doordarshan and the All India Radio to take proper steps to make interesting programmes and broadcast the same on the radio and exhibit the same on the television
The national network as also the State Doordarshan Centres should immedi ately take steps to implement this direction so that from February 1 1992 regular compliance can be made
383 4 We accept on principle that through the medium of education awareness of the environment and its problems related to pollution should be taught as a compulsory sub ject
Learned Attorney General pointed out to us that the Central Government is associated with education at the higher levels and the University Grants Commission can monitor only the under graduate and post graduate studies
The rest of it according to him is a State subject
He has agreed that the University Grants Commission will take appropriate steps immediately to give effect to what we have said ie requiring the Universities to prescribe a course on environment
They would consider the feasibility of making this a compulsory subject at every level in college education
So for as education up to the college level is concerned we would require every State Government and every Education Board connected with education up to the matricu lation or stage even intermediate colleges to immediately take steps to enforce compulsory education on environment in a graded way
this should be so done that in the next aca demic year there would be compliance of this requirement
We have not considered it necessary to hear the State Governments and the other interested groups as by now there is a general acceptance through out the world as also in our country that protection of environment and keeping it free of pollution is an indispensable necessity for life to survive on earth
If that be the situation every one must turn his immediate attention to the proper care to sustain environment in a decent way
We dispose of the matter with the aforesaid direction but give liberty to Mr Mehta to apply to the Court from time to time for further directions if necessary
SB Petition dis posed of


Summary:
Following its earlier decision in 19911 PLRI the High Court held that the principal employer and the Contrac tor were liable for prosecution under the  if they made non compliance of section 7 and section 12 of the Act respec tively
Further it was held that the employee employed through the contractor did not become the employees of the principal employer
CANo 2335 of 1991 arose by special leave from the decision of the High Court
The point involved in other appeals is common
This Court on the question if the principal employer did not get registration under section 7 of the Act andor the contractor did not get a licence under Section 12 of the Act whether the person so appointed by the principal employer through the contractor would be deemed to the direct employees of the principal employer or not dismissing the appeals HELD 1
The long title and the preamble of the Con tract Labour Regulation and Abolition Act 1970 show that it is an Act to regulate the employment of contract labour in certain establish 402 ments and to provide for abolition in certain circumstances and for matters connected therewith
The Statement of Ob jects and Reasons mentions that the system of employment of contract labour has tended itself to various abuses and the question of its abolition had been under consideration of the Government for a long time
405 E 2
The serves two fold purpose 1 regulations of the conditions of service of the workers employed by the contractor who is engaged by a principal employer and 2 also provides for the appropriate Government abolishing contract labour alto gether in certain notified processes operation or other works in any establishment
Neither the Act nor the Rules framed by the Central Government or by any appropriate Government provide that upon abolition of contract labour the said labour would be directly absorbed by the principal employer
407 H 408 A 3
The Act as can be seen from the Scheme of the Act merely regulates the employment of contract labour in cer tain establishment and provides for its abolition in certain circumstances
The Act does not provide for total abolition of contract labour but it provides for abolition by the appropriate Government in appropriate cases under Section 10 of the Act
413 H 414 A 4
In the present case and the other connected Special Leave Petitions no notification has been issued by the appropriate Government under Section 10 of the Act
414 B 5
It is not for the High Court to inquire into the question and decide whether the employment of contract labour in any process operation or in any other work in any establishment should be abolished or not
It is a matter for the decision of the Government after considering the matter as required to be considered under Section 10 of the Act
414 C D 6
In proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution merely because contractor or the employer had violated any provision of the Act or the Rules the court could not issue any mandamus for deeming the contract labour as having become the employees of the principal employer
414 E Ms Gammon India Ltd and Others vs Union of India 1974 1 SCC 596 Standard Vacuum Refining Co vs Their work men  FCI Loading and Unloading Workers Union vs Food Corpora 403 tion of India  Food Corporation of India Workers Union vs
Food Corporation of India and others  referred to
Gian Singh  Others vs FCI 19911 PLR 1 Punjab and Haryana The Workmen of Best  Crompton Industries Ltd vs The Management of Best  Crompton Engineering Ltd Madras and Ors 19851 LLJ 492 Madras and United Labour Union and Others vs Union of india and Others 199060 FLR 686 Bombay over ruled
P Karunakaran vs The Chief Commercial Superintendent and Others 19882 LIC 1346 Kerala and New Delhi General Mazdoor Union vs Standing Conference of Public Enterprises Scope  Another 19912 Delhi Lawyer 189 approved