Shehla Zia and Others vs. WAPDA, PLD 1994 SC 693 (Pakistan)

Residents of Islamabad filed a writ petition challenging the construction of an electrical grid station adjacent to a residential neighborhood. They submitted that the electrical installations and transmission lines would be dangerous to citizens, especially children who play outside, and that it would also be damaging to the environment.

According to the court, the word "life" covers all facets of human existence. It is not restricted only to the vegetative or animal life or mere existence from conception to death. Life includes all such amenities and facilities which a person born in a free country is entitled to enjoy with dignity, legally and constitutionally. A person is entitled to protection of law from being exposed to hazards of electromagnetic fields or any other such hazards which may be due to installation and construction of any grid station and like installations. Applying the precautionary principle, if there are threats of serious danger, effective measures should be taken to control it and it should not be postponed merely on the ground that scientific research and studies are uncertain and not conclusive. At the same time, one cannot lose sight of the need for constructing grid stations which are necessary for industrial and economic development.