Mehta v. Nath
India Supreme Court
1 SCC 388 (India) (1997)
- Written by Sheryl McGrath, JD
Facts
The Beas River in India flowed through a valley between two mountain ranges. One side of the river was forested. The other side of the river was agricultural land. The forested riverbank was ecologically fragile. In the early 1990s, a regulatory agency in India granted the Span Resort a 99-year lease of land on the forested riverbank. The leased land consisted of about 27 bighas (about 11 acres). At the time, Kamal Nath (defendant) was India’s minister of Environment and Forests. Nath’s family had ties to Span Resort. Span Resort built a motel on the land, and the building activities changed the course of the river flow. M. C. Mehta (plaintiff), a lawyer and environmental activist, filed an action against Nath for damaging the environment. The Supreme Court of India accepted original jurisdiction of the action.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Singh, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
