Article on National Green Tribunal

Introduction:National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (NGT) is an Act of the Parliament of India which
enables creation of a special tribunal to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases
pertaining to environmental issues. It draws inspiration from the India's constitutional
provision of Article 21, which assures the citizens of India the right to a healthy environment.
India is the third country following Australia and New Zealand to have such system. The
tribunal is a special fast-track quasi-judicial body comprising of judges and environment
expert who will ensure expeditious disposal of cases .In India the higher judiciary is loaded
with excessive weight with a large backlog of cases. It may be appreciated that in order to
have effective prevention of environmental pollution and environmental complaints should be
decided in an efficient manner which is not possible in the present context of judicial
administration. Therefore urgent need was felt for an alternative forum so that environmental
cases were resolved without much delay. Indias Environmental Court as a result of the need
repeatedly express by the Constitutional Courts on the need to have a specialized judicial
bodies to deal with complex environment questions. The trigger for setting up of
Environmental Courts was through the Supreme Court of India which in its judgment
highlighted the difficulties faced by Judges in adjudicating on Environment. Supreme Court
of India in its judgment referred the needs for establishment of environmental court which
would have the benefit of expert advice from environmental scientist and technically
qualified persons as a part of judicial process, after an elaborate discussion of the views of
jurists in various countries. The current Environment Ministry seems to want the NGT to
make recommendations to the government instead of issuing directions like a judicial body.
In its view, only the amenable Supreme Court of India should have the right to reject
clearances. A year ago, the ministry asked the tribunal to limit its jurisdiction, but the
proposal was rejected. The move to amend the relevant legislation was initiated by
Environment Minister Javadekar himself .The NGT has been given enormous powers to deal
with environmental litigation. The provisions of the Act stipulate that efforts to seek judicial
intervention for the protection and improvement of environment will not be rejected on the
grounds that the problems concerned involve complex, scientific and technical questions
beyond the purview of the court. This gives cause for hope to environmental advocates who
are interested in filing Public Interest Litigations (hereinafter referred to as PILs).
Furthermore, the NGT, with only two judicial members, is an independent statutory panel and
consists of eight experts from the fields of physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, engineering,
environmental economics, social sciences and forestry who help and advise judges on a
regular basis. The inclusion of different experts to deal with different aspects of
environmental problems will undoubtedly help the NGT to look beyond the simple costbenefit considerations of a particular project and to serve the larger interests of environment
and development.

Definition:An Act to provide for the establishment of a National Green Tribunal for the effective and
expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests
and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment
and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto".
Origin:The legislate Act of Parliament defines the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.On 18 October
2010 Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta became its first Chairman. Currently it is chaired by
Justice Swatanter Kumar since 20 Dec 2012.The Tribunal's dedicated jurisdiction in
environmental matters shall provide speedy environmental justice and help reduce the burden
of litigation in the higher courts. The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down
under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.
The Tribunal is mandated to make and Endeavour for disposal of applications or appeals
finally within 6 months of filing of the same .Initially, the NGT is proposed to be set up at
five places of sittings and will follow circuit procedure for making itself more accessible;
New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal , Pune , Kolkata and
Chennai shall be the other 4 place of sitting of the Tribunal .During the Rio de
Janeiro summit of United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in June
1992, India vowed the participating states to provide judicial and administrative remedies for
the victims of the pollutants and other environmental damage .There lie many reasons behind
the setting up of this tribunal. After India's move with Carbon credits, such tribunal may play
a vital role in ensuring the control of emissions and maintaining the desired levels. This is the
first body of its kind that is required by its parent statute to apply the "polluter pays" principle
and the principle of sustainable development .This court can rightly be called special
because India is the third country following Australia and New Zealand to have such a
system.
Main purpose:National Green Tribunal (NGT) in addressing the problem of environmental pollution and
degradation in India. The National Green Tribunal has been established on 18.10.2010 under
the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating
to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including
enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for
damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It
is a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes
involving multi-disciplinary issues. Powers of the Tribunal: This means that any violations
pertaining only to these laws, or any order / decision taken by the Government under these
laws can be challenged before the NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL.
National Green Tribunal makes one more innovation by providing strict penalty for nonobservation of the order of the tribunal. This will allow implementation of the order of the

tribunal. Coming to dark side of the Act, the rules relating to constitution and composition of
selection committee tilts the balance of power in favor of Central Government. Keeping in
view the repeat of the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and the National
Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 by the present Act, it is submitted that legislation
should become operational in letter and spirit to provide much needed relief against
offences/complaints for degradation of environment. The present legislation provides
interference and control by the central Government in the affairs and processes of the tribunal
which should be avoided to give tribunal an unrestricted hand to decide the inherent matter as
proceedings. The objective behind these establishments in different part of the country is to
reach the remote parts of India. By this way people from different parts of the country
can have access of tribunal. Principal bench as well as regional benches of the Green
Tribunal is currently functional1,2,3,4. Beside this, another major purpose for the
establishment of green court in different cities, aimed to reduce the burden of litigation
in the general courts. Indian courts are already overburdened with the cases in every court
from lower to upper courts1, 13. This paper is an exploratory study, deals with genesis
and the gradual evolution of green court in India. The first section deals with the
background of formation of green court in India followed by the structure of NGT
and its jurisdictions. In the result section, from the analysis of NGT judgments, a couple of
important cases in general and some coastal zone related are discussed. Last section of the
paper discusses the limitations of NGT and finally the concluding remarks.
The NGT had issued directives such as separation of sewerage from the river, setting up of
bio-methanation plant to treat puja waste, construction of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP),
Solid Waste Management (SWM) etc. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Monday slammed
civic bodies in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh over the worsening ambient air quality and high noise
levels near the Kaushambi bus terminus on the Delhi border .After going through an
inspection report, the tribunal issued show cause notices to Ghaziabad and the official
concerned in Delhi on why environmental compensation should not be imposed on public
authorities for failing to discharge their statutory duties. According to the joint inspection
teams detailed report and photographs, the ambient air quality is bad and noise levels very
high.
Structure:Following the enactment of the said law, the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal
has been established in the National Capital New Delhi, with regional benches in Pune
(Western Zone Bench), Bhopal (Central Zone Bench), Chennai (South Bench) and Kolkata
(Eastern Bench). Each bench has a specified geographical jurisdiction covering several States
in a region. There is also a mechanism for circuit benches. For example, the Southern Zone
bench, which is based in Chennai, can decide to have sitting in other places like Bangalore or
Hyderabad. The chairperson of the National Green Tribunal is retired Judge of the Supreme
Court, Head Quartered in Delhi. Other Judicial members are retired Judges of High Courts.
Each bench of the National Green Tribunal will comprise of at least one Judicial Member and
one Expert Member. Expert members should have a professional qualification and a

minimum of 15 years experience in the field of environment/forest conservation and related

subjects.
Jurisdiction:The National Green Tribunal has power to hear all civil cases relating to environmental issues
and questions that are linked to the implementation of laws listed in Schedule I of the
NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL Act. The powers of tribunal related to an award are
equivalent to Civil court and tribunal may transmit any order/award to civil court have local
jurisdiction .However the tribunal does not follow civil law. it follows principles of natural
justice .The Bill specifies that an application for dispute related to environment can be filled
within six months only when first time dispute arose (provide tribunal can accept application
after 60 days if it is satisfied that appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filling the
application). Also Tribunal is competent to hear cases for several acts such as Forest
(Conservation) Act, Biological Diversity Act, Environment (Protection) Act, Water & Air
(Prevention & control of Pollution) Acts etc. and also have appellate jurisdiction related to
above acts after establishment of Tribunal within a period of 30 days of award or order
received by aggrieved party. The Bill says that decision taken by majority of members shall
be binding and every order of Tribunal shall be final. Any person aggrieved by an award,
decision, or order of the Tribunal may appeal to the Supreme Court within 90 days of
commencement of award but Supreme Court can entertain appeal even after 90 days if
appellant satisfied SC by giving sufficient reasons.
Main event:1. Yamuna Conservation Zone
2. Coal Blocks in Chhattisgarh Forests
On 25 April 2014, the NGT said that the health of Yamuna will be affected by the proposed
recreational facilities on the river. The NGT also recommended the Government to declare a
52 km stretch of the Yamuna in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh as a conservation zone.
In the case of coal block in Chhattisgarh forests the National Green Tribunal has cancelled
the clearance given by the then Union Environment and Forests Minister, Jairam Ramesh, to
the Parsa East and Kante-Basan captive coal blocks in the Hasdeo-Arand forests of
Chhattisgarh, overruling the statutory Forest Advisory Committee .The forest clearance was
given by Mr. Ramesh in June 2011, overriding the advice of the Ministry's expert panel on
the two blocks for mining by a joint venture between Adani and Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut
Utpadan Nigam Limited. The blocks requiring 1,989 hectares of forestland fell in an area that
the government had initially barred as it was considered a patch of valuable forest and
demarcated as a no-go area.
The order is bound to have a more far-reaching impact, with the tribunal holding that "mere
expression of fanciful reasons relating to environmental concerns without any basis, scientific

study or past experience would not render the advice of FAC a body of experts
inconsequential. Under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the FAC is required to appraise
projects that require forestlands and advise the Environment Ministry to grant approval or
reject the proposals.The NGT noted, the Minister had taken all of one day and relied upon his
"understanding and belief" without any "basis either in any authoritative study or experience
in the relevant fields." The Minister, while clearing the coal blocks, had given six reasons for
doing so, including that the coal blocks are linked to super-critical thermal power plant,
which is imperative to sustain the momentum generated in the XI Plan for increasing power
production. These anthropocentric considerations, the NGT held, were not valid to evaluate
the project