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- This article is about National Green Tribunal (NGT) which was established under National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
It talks about the establishment, origin, structure, power & jurisdiction, principle of justice adopted by NGT, procedure of filling an application or appeal, credits, challenges and restrictions and important judgments of NGT.
It also contains conclusion at the very end to wrap up the article.
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| National Green Tribunal(NGT) : An Analysis |
Introduction:
National Green Tribunal (NGT) is a statutory body. It was brought into force on 18/10/2010 . It was established under the National Green Tribunal Act. And by doing so India became the third country in the world to set up a tribunal especially for environmental matters, after Australia and New Zealand. India is the first one among developing countries to do so.
NGT was the need of the hour to make the active disposal of related to environment protection and lessen the burden of the court.
It facilitates effective and expeditious disposal of case relating to environment protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
NGT got its inspiration from the Constitution Of India: Part III- Article 21, which is as follows - “Protection of life and personal liberty i.e. No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” Right to a healthy environment is also implicit in it.
The tribunal is not bound by the provisions made under Civil Procedure Court 1908, instead it works on the principal of natural justice.
NGT worked on fixed pattern of time limit where it has to dispose the application and appeals finally within 6 months of filling them.
The main office of NGT is in New Delhi. It also does its setting in Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai.
Origin:
In June 1992 , India participated in the summit of United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Where India pledged to provide judicial and administrative remedies to the victims of the pollutants and other damages caused by environment.
India’s movement with Carbon was one of the main reason behind setting up this tribunal. The tribunal would help in playing an important role in ensuring the control of emissions and maintaining the desired levels.
NGT is the first statutory body which is needed by it’s parent statute to apply the principle of “Polluter Pays” and the principle of sustainable development.
The NGT bill was published on 31 July 2009 ; The committee gave it’s report on 24 November 2009. The NGT act was enacted by Parliament Of India on 5 May 2010. The Act got assent by the President on 2 June 2010. Thus it became Act No. 19 of 2010.
Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) works under the act of NGT.
Structure:
The principal bench of NGT is established in New Delhi. It has four regional benches in Pune (West), Bhopal (Central), Chennai (South) and Kolkata (East).
Every bench has it’s own specified geographical jurisdiction in a region. In addition to these benches, a system of circuit benches is also available. For example, the South Zone bench, which is based in Chennai, can decide to have settings in other places like Bangalore or Hyderabad.
The tribunal consists of a Chairperson, the Judicial Members and Expert. All the members including the Chairperson shall hold the office for 5 years. They are not eligible to be reappointed.
The Chairperson is a retired Judge of Supreme Court, headquartered in New Delhi. He is appointed by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta was appointed as the Chairman of NGT on 18 October 2010. Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel was the present day chairman of NGT.
Other Judicial Members and Expert members are retired Judges of High Courts.
Each bench of NGT consists of atleast one Judicial Member and one Expert Member.
A person for being eligible to be an expert member should compulsorily have a professional qualification and a minimum of 15 years of experience in the field of environment/ forest conservation and related subjects.
A selection committee shall be established by Central Government to appoint the Judicial members and Expert members.
There should be minimum 10 and maximum 20 full time Judicial members and Expert members in the tribunal.
Powers & Jurisdiction:
The NGT is authorized to hear all the civil cases related to environment issues, that would be include enforcement of any legal right relating to environment.
It is a statutory adjudicatory body like courts. Besides having an original jurisdiction of filing an application it also has an appellate jurisdiction to hear the appeal as court (tribunal).
NGT deals with the questions that are linked with the laws listed in Schedule I of the NGT Act. They are-
The water (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act, 1974;
The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977;
The Forest(Conservation) Act, 1980;
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981;
The Environment Protection Act, 1986;
The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991;
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002;
Any violation of these laws and any order/ decree taken by the Government under them can be challenged by the NGT.
NGT by an order, can facilitate relief and compensation to the victims of the pollution and other environmental damages (which also includes damage or injury caused by handling any hazardous substance), for restoration of property damaged, and restitution of the environment for such area or areas, as the tribunal may think important.
Any order/ decree/ award of Tribunal is executable to the same extent as of a decree of a civil court.
If NGT holds an opinion that a claim is false and arbitrary, it can impose costs including lost benefits due to any interim injunction.
NGT is authorized to provide a procedure for a penalty for non compliance:
Imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years,
Fine which may extend to ten crore rupees, and
Both fine and imprisonment.
An appeal against order/ decision/ award of NGT lies to the Supreme Court, to be filed within ninety days from the date of communication.
Principle of Justice adopted by NGT:
This tribunal works on the principle of Natural Justice and is not bound by the procedure laid down by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Besides this NGT is also not bound by the rules of evidence as enshrined in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Thus, it makes relatively easier (as opposed to approaching a court) of the conservation groups to keep facts and issues before the NGT which can include pointing out technical loopholes in a project, or proposing alternatives that can reduce environmental damage but is generally overlooked.
While passing any Order/ Decree/ Award, the NGT will apply the polluter pays principle, principle of sustainable development, the precautionary principle.
Procedure of filing an application or appeal:
Procedure to file an application in NGT seeking compensation for environment damage or an appeal against an order or decision of the Government is very easy.
The official language of NGT is English.
For every appeal / application where claim for compensation is not involved, a fee of Rs. 1000/- is to be paid.
In case where the compensation is claimed, the fee will be one percent of the amount of compensation claimed, subject to a minimum of Rs 1000/-.
No application for grant of any compensation or relief or restitution of property or environment shall be entertained unless it is made within a period of 5 years from the date of which the cause for such compensation or relief first arose.
Credits of NGT:
In a decade NGT has turned out to be a crucial player in Environment regulation, giving strict and important judgments on issues ranging from pollution to deforestation to waste management.
NGT paves a way for evolution and growth of environmental jurisprudence by establishing an alternate dispute resolution mechanism.
It helps in decreasing the load of litigation in the higher courts on issues relating to environment.
NGT is quiet informal, pocket-friendly and a comparatively faster way of solving environment related issues.
It plays an important role in controlling and eliminating non-environment friendly activities.
The Chairperson and members are not subject to reappointment, hence they most likely deliver judgments independently, without being succumbed to any pressure from any quarter and without having any personal interest.
NGT is a medium to ensure that the Environment Impact Assessment process is strictly observed.
Challenges and Restrictions:
The NGT has not been authorized with the powers to hear any matter relating to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Indian Forest Act 1927, Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and various laws enacted by states relating to forests, tree preservation etc. This hampers the jurisdiction NGT and at times causes malfunctioning as crucial forest rights issued is linked directly to environment.
The decision given by NGT is challenged in various High Courts under Article 226 of the Constitution which tells the power of High Court to issue certain writs; Many assert the superiority of High Court over the NGT, mentioning that High Court is a constitutional body while NGT is a statutory body. This is one of the major drawbacks of the Act, as there is no clarity about the kind of decision that can be challenged; although according to NGT Act, it’s decision can be challenged before the Supreme Court.
Decision of NGT have also been criticized and challenged due to their adverse effect on economic growth and development.
The list of criticism of the tribunal also includes the lack of a formula based mechanism to determine the compensation.
The decision given by NGT are not fully complied by the stakeholder or the Government.
At times, decision are said not to be feasible to implement within a given or specified time frame.
The lack of human and economic resources has caused high pendency of cases which affects the NGT's very objective of disposal of appeals within a period of 6 months.
The inadequacy of the number of regional benches also affects the delivery of justice.
Important judgments:
Samir Mehta v. Union of India and Ors.[1] –
NGT held- India’s sovereignty over the herbal sources extends to the contiguous area and different financial areas beneath the Maritime Zones Act, 1976;
The Tribunal has also held that it has the energy to supply reimbursement for the charges incurred through the Central Government to smooth the wrecks which can also additionally pose dangers to navigation and marine surroundings.
Save Mon Region Federation and Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors –[2] The tribunal suspended the environment clearance granted to the project. It also focused on the safety of the birds.
Srinagar Bandh Aapda Sangharsh Samiti & Anr. v. Alaknanda hydro Power Co. Ltd. & Ors. -[3] The Tribunal stated that even though the 2013 Uttarakhand floods was the result of a cloud burst, the damage caused on the residential location was not the result of Act of God.
Almitra H. Patel & Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors – [4] The NGT directed each state and UT to bring into effect the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and bring the plan in motion in phrases within four weeks. Besides, the tribunal directed the Central Government, State Government, Local bodies and all residents to do their respective duties below the rules with no delay.
Even though segregation has been made mandatory in waste for strength vegetation and landfills required to be used in depositing inert waste most effective and are a concern of bio-stabilization within six months.
The tribunal also ordered a restriction on open burning of waste on lands, which also include at landfills.
In 2012, the steelmaker company POSCO signed a MoU with the Government of Odisha for setting up a steel project. NGT suspended the order and it was counted as an important step in favor of the local communities and forest.
In 2015, the NGT ordered that all diesel vehicles over 10 years old will not be allowed to ply in Delhi-NCR.[5]
In 2017, the Art of Living Festival on Yamuna Food Plain was declared violating the environmental norms, the NGT panel also imposed a penalty of Rs. 5 Crore.
The NGT, in 2017, imposed an interim ban on plastic bags of less than 50-micron thickness in Delhi because “they were causing animal deaths, clogging sewers and harming the environment”
Conclusion:
Though NGT is a statutory body for the speedy disposal of the cases, it is not capable to dispose the cases quickly at constant speed. It is required to make it more autonomous and widening NGT’s scope for effective protection of environment in balance with human developmental activities is the need of the hour.
Despite being constituted with the aid of an Act of Parliament, the Supreme Court need to interfere from time to time to make sure that important administrative preparations have been made with the help of using diverse branches of the government for the tribunal to become functional.
[1] 2017 SCC OnLine NGT 1314
[2]MANU/GT/0040/2016 ; Save Mon Region Federation and
Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors. (07.04.2016 - NGT)
[3] Srinagar Bandh Aapda Sangharsh Samiti and Ors. vs.
Alaknanda Hydro Power Co. Ltd. and Ors. (19.08.2016 - NGT) : MANU/GT/0101/2016
[4]
MANU/GT/0150/2016
[5] 2016 SCC OnLine NGT 3897; Vardhaman Kaushik v. Union
of India & Ors.
The End
