National Green Tribunal

Supreme Court in a landmark judgement noted that, “National Green Tribunal does have suo moto powers and it can hear environmental issues on its own”. This order came even though Union government said NGT does not have powers to hear environmental cases on its own. Court also noted that, holding any other interpretation will go against the public good and render environmental watchdog ineffective and toothless. This decision is significant for the wellbeing of nation and its people. It will bring about flexible mechanism for addressing all the issues related to environmental damage and resultant climate change in a bid to leave behind a better environmental legacy for future children and generations thereafter.

About National Green Tribunal:

• It is a specialised body set up 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.
• With the establishment of the NGT, India became the third country in the world to set up a specialised environmental tribunal, only after Australia and New Zealand, and the first developing country to do so.
• The NGT Act provided a specialized role to the tribunal to act on issues where a dispute arose under seven specified laws (mentioned in Schedule I of the Act): The Water Act, The Water Cess Act, The Forest Conservation Act, Air Act, Environment Protection Act, Public Liability Insurance Act and the Biological Diversity Act.
• NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing the same.
• The NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.
• The Tribunal is headed by the Chairperson who sits in the Principal Bench and has at least ten but not more than twenty judicial members and at least ten but not more than twenty expert members.
• Decisions of the Tribunal are binding. The Tribunal has powers to review its own decisions. If this fails, the decision can be challenged before the Supreme Court within ninety days.