How Much Should the Polluter Pay? Indian Courts and the Valuation of Environmental Damage.

This article examines the judicial interpretation and application of the polluter pays principle (PPP) in India, focusing on the question of how much the polluter should pay. The PPP, which holds that those responsible for pollution must bear its costs, has been integrated into Indian environmental law primarily through Supreme Court decisions and statutory recognition in the National Green Tribunal Act 2010. The article proposes a three-part framework for analyzing valuation under the PPP—whether to value, what values to include, and how to measure them—and identifies three distinct judicial approaches to quantifying damages: delegation to expert bodies, calculation based on enterprise size or turnover, and unexplained quantification. While Indian courts have invoked corrective justice, responsibility, deterrence, and social contract theories to justify the PPP, ambiguities remain regarding the scope of costs covered (ex ante prevention versus ex post remediation) and the methodologies for valuation, leading to inconsistencies in application. The article suggests that clearer specification of valuation scope, greater transparency in quantification, and cautious use of simplified formulas could enhance the principle’s consistency and effectiveness, with implications extending beyond India to other jurisdictions applying the PPP.