A three day international conference on Awareness as a tool of Enforcement of Environment Laws was organised at Delhi. The Conference was inaugurated by His Excellency, the President of India, Dr.A P J Abdul Kalam, in the presence of the then Chief Justice of India and our Founder Patron-in- Chief, Hon'ble Mr.Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Minister for Law and Justice, Sh. H.R. Bhardwaj, Minister for Environment & Forests, Mr. A. Raja and other eminent and distinguished Guests.

Our partners for the conference, amongst others, were the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.

The highlight of the conference was a solemn pledge administered by the Hon'ble President of India to the entire gathering, including over 300 students from various schools.

The conference was huge success with each session being chaired by senior Judges of Supreme Court and Delhi High Court. Participants in the conference included lawyers, Academicians, Regulators, students from schools and colleges, NGOs. Issue raised by APJA awareness as a tool of enforcement and public participation have now been recognized as effective tools of enforcement by all agencies and forums, particularly in Asia.

APJA launched its Punjab & Haryana Chapter of APJA at Chandigarh with seminar of Environmental Law. It was inaugurated by Hon'ble Mr.Justice Vijender Jain, President of APJA and the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court. Vice Chancellor of Punjab University was the keynote Speaker, Justice Surya Kant is the President of Punjab it Haryana Chapter with Justice Rajesh Bindal its Vice President. Inauguration session was attended by over 300 members including Judges, lawyers and academicians. Recently APJA organized a rally which was attended largely by judges, lawyers and academicians.

 







EVENTS IN WHICH APJA HAS PARTICIPATED

(i) APJA is founder member of Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (AECEN), Regional Practitioners Network of National and Sub-National Agencies from Asian countries committed to improve the Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in Asia. Justice Vijender Jain, President of APJA, the keynote Speaker at its inaugural session held in Bangkok in October, 2004, where Mr. A.S.  Chandhiok, Senior vice President of APJA was also a Speaker. Mr.Pradeep K. Bakshi, Secretary General and Mr. Anil Sapra, Vice President also represented APJA inauguration session.

Justice Jain was also a founder member of the Executive Committee of AECEN.

(ii) Mr.Pradeep K. Bakshi, Secretary General attended the 2nd annual Forum of AECEN held at Manila in August, 2005. He was also the Speaker at the 3RD  annual Forum of AECEN at Hanoi, Vietnam held in December, 2006.

(iii) APJA was also invited Network for Accession (ECENA) at its workshop of Benchmarking and Setting environmental Compliance and Hungry in March, 2007, which was attended by Shri Pradeep K. Bakshi, Secretary General, as representative of APJA. On account of APJA's participation, a proposal for starting APJA-ECENA Environmental Forum has been initiated for working together, understanding each others judicial held at Szentendra, Enforcement Indicators system and exchange of views and experiences in the field of environment.

INDO-THAI JUDICIAL FORUM

APJA in association with office of Judiciary, Thailand, is establishing an lndo-Thai Judicial Forum, Exchange Programme between Thai Judges and members of APJA, wherein, bilateral collaboration between two organizations will be started under the forum. Executive President of APJA had a dialogue in June, General of Office of Judiciary of Thailand. 2007 with Secretary

ASIAN JUDICIAL FORUM

With the efforts of APJA and Eco-Asia and US-AID, the Asian Judiciary Forum, comprising of Judges, lawyers of Asia Pacific Region, a Regional Forum for Enforcement and Compliance of Environmental Laws. Inauguration session of the Forum took place at Manila, Philippines, on 5th and 6th July, 2007 where   Chief Justice of India, Chief Justice of Philippines and Supreme Court Judge of Sri Lanka, Mr. Sobchok Sukharomna, Presiding Justice of the Supreme Court of Thailand, Mr. Justice Vijender Jain, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana President of APJA, Mr. Justice Anil Kumar, Executive President of APJA, Chief Judge Mr. Brian Preston , Land and Environment Court of NSW, Australia; Ms. Kathie A.Stein, Environmental Appeals Judge of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington and many other Judges from Philippines, Thailand and many other countries participated. APJA was the moving forum behind this Forum and it has become an important institution in Asia which has provided a forum for Judges and lawyers from different Asian Countries to interact, exchange and discuss issues of mutual interest, particularly concerning environment