In a ruling on May 13, 2011, the Supreme Court, acting on a petition filed by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in a public interest litigation, passed an ad-interim order banning with immediate effect the manufacture, sale and use of endosulfan throughout the country due to its adverse health effects, based on the precautionary principle and the right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. It also directed a joint committee formed under the aegis of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Commissioner of Agriculture to conduct a scientific study on whether the use of endosulfan would result in a serious risk to human health and environmental pollution. The committee must submit a report to the Court within eight weeks, after which the Court will decide whether the ban should be lifted or made permanent. The Court also ordered the statutory authorities to seize the permits granted to endosulfan manufacturers until further notice. Finally, it ordered the government to propose safer and less expensive alternatives for the pesticide and to decide how existing stocks should be destroyed. Because the committee failed to meet the July 15 deadline for submitting the report, the new deadline for submitting the report was set for the first week of August.

In a judgment dated September 30, 2011, the Supreme Court renewed the ban on the production, sale and use of endosulfan, stating that it would conditionally allow the export of the already manufactured quantity of endosulfan that has accumulated to 1090.596 MT to countries from which Indian manufacturers have received orders for the export of endosulfan, so that the latter can fulfill their contractual obligations and the alleged pollutant can thus be eliminated from that country. It was supplemented by a ruling of December 13, 2011, on the authorization of the export of endosulfan.

On January 30, 2017, the Court issued a new order directing the state governments to pay all victims of endosulfan poisoning in Kasaragod district compensation to the tune of 5 lakhs within three months of the order. It also requested the state governments to consider the possibility of providing medical facilities/treatment to deal with the lifelong health problems, resulting from the effects of endosulfan, keeping in view the large number of people affected.