NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL ACT,

2010
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

SUBMITTED BY:
NITIN GOYAL – A3211116106
SECTION-B
 What is National Green Tribunal (NGT)?

 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.
 NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6
months of filing of 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.

Structure of NGT
 The Tribunal comprises of the Chairperson, the Judicial Members and Expert
Members. They shall hold office for term of five years and are not eligible for
reappointment.
 The Chairperson is appointed by the Central Government in consultation with
Chief Justice of India (CJI).
 A Selection Committee shall be formed by central government to appoint the
Judicial Members and Expert Members.
There are to be least 10 and maximum 20 full time Judicial members and Expert
Members in the tribunal.
Jurisdiction and Powers of the National Green
Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal has the power to hear all civil cases relating to
environment that are linked to the implementation of all the laws listed in Schedule
I of the Act. These are mentioned below:

 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.

This means that in case of any infringement of these laws or any order given by the
Government under these laws which is not proper can be challenged in the National
Green Tribunal and will be decided there.

 Most importantly, the National Green Tribunal has not been given the
powers to hear any cases relating to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,
the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and various laws enacted by States relating to
forests, tree preservation and various other laws.
 The National Green Tribunal has jurisdiction to decide all the cases which
involve substantial questions regarding the environment and its protection
and any legal rights in connection with it.
 The tribunal, being a statutory authority, not only exercises original
jurisdiction on filing an application but also has appellate jurisdiction
through which it hears appeals as a Court.
 The tribunal is not bound by the procedure mentioned under the Civil
Procedure Code, 1908 and it applies the principles of natural justice while
deciding any matter.
 All the principles such as sustainable development, polluter pays and
precautionary principles, are considered by the tribunal before deciding any
case.
 The National Green Tribunal, by an order can provide the following:
o Compensation and relief to all the people who are the victims of
pollution and environmental damage and it also includes
accidents which happen while handling hazardous substances.
o Restitution of a damaged property
o Restitution of the environment for areas which the tribunal may
think fit.
 An appeal against any order given by the tribunal can be made before the
Supreme Court of India within ninety days from the date of communication
of the order regarding the case.

Strengths of National Green Tribunal

 Over the years the National Green Tribunal has emerged as a critical role
player in regulating environmental issues ranging from waste management
to deforestation.
 By setting up an Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism it helps in the
evolution of environmental jurisprudence.
 It helps in reducing burdens on higher courts as it specifically deals with
environmental cases that were decided by the civil courts earlier.
 It settles cases with lesser expenses and is less formal and a faster way of
settling cases is also followed by the tribunal.
 It plays an important role in curbing damage to the environment.
  The Chairperson and the other members are not eligible for reappointment
so they can give judgments without any pressure.
 It ensures whether the Environment Impact Assessment process is strictly
observed.

Functions of the National Green Tribunal Act

 It is a body that has expertise in handling the disputes related to the
environment which includes multi-disciplinary issues as well.
 The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, shall not bind the Tribunal as it is
to be guided by natural justice principles.
 The jurisdiction of the Tribunal shall provide speedy trials of the
environment-related matters and help in reducing the burden of cases
pending in the higher courts.
 The tribunal is mandated to dispose off environment-related issues
within 6 months of filing the complaint.
 The National Green Tribunal need not follow all that is given under
the Civil Procedure Code but can regulate the procedure by itself and
applies the principle of natural justice in administering justice.
 It is required to apply principles such as sustainable development at
the time of awarding compensation or giving orders.
 It should have in mind the principle that whoever is found polluting
will have to pay i.e. the principle of ‘Polluter Pays’.
 The National Green Tribunal is not bound by the rules mentioned in
the Indian Evidence Act.
 All the proceedings before the National Green Tribunal shall be
accorded to the proceedings within the sections of the IPC.
 The tribunal is allowed to be a civil court to settle the matters.
 Challenges
 The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the Scheduled Tribes and Other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 are
out of the jurisdiction that is exercised by the tribunal. In this way, it
hampers the functioning of the NGT and forest and wildlife are directly
connected to the environment.
 One of the weaknesses of the Act is that any decision given by the tribunal
can be challenged in various High courts under Article 226 through which
it issues writs. It asserts the superiority of High Courts over the NGT and a
case can be heard by the Supreme Court as well as a challenge to the
decision given by the NGT.
 Some of the decisions of the NGT have also been criticized due to their
reverberations on economic development and growth.
 There is no formula based calculation of the compensation claimed by
anyone which also creates problems.
 The decisions pronounced by the NGT, sometimes, do not fully comply by
the government and the stakeholders.
 The lack of financial resources has led to the pendency of cases within the
tribunal due to which it is not able to dispose off cases within six months.
 Limited benches are there which serves as a hindrance in the justice
delivery mechanism of the tribunal.

Important orders
 The NGT suspended an order in which a steel maker company signed an
MoU with the government of Odisha to set up a steel plant. It was done for
the local communities and forest life in the area.
 It gave a judgement on the complete prohibition of open burning of
wastelands including landfills for dealing with the issue of solid waste
management in the country.
 It has applied the principle of ‘polluter pays’ directly while deciding cases.
  It ordered that all the diesel vehicles which are 10 years old will not be
permitted in Delhi due to alarming air pollution.
 It never hesitated in imposing high penalties. For instance, a penalty of Rs.
5 crores was imposed in a case which came before the NGT.
 It imposed an interim ban on the polythene bags which were less than 50-
micron thickness in Delhi.
 In a case, it held that even a foreign national can approach the NGT.

Penalty for non-compliance of an NGT Order

In case of non-compliance with any direction issued by the NGT or any of its
judgements, a penalty can be imposed in which the person may be given
imprisonment for about three years or fine which may extend to Rs. 10 crores or
even both. If someone still continues to disobey the orders given by the Tribunal
then in such cases a fine of Rs. 20,000 may be imposed on a daily basis. The NGT
is really strict when it comes to the non-compliance of its orders.

National Green Tribunal Judgements

Some of the important judgments of the NGT are as follows:

In Ms. Betty C. Alvares vs. The State of Goa and Ors.[1], a complaint was made
regarding the illegal construction in Goa. It was being done by a person of foreign
nationality. The maintainability of the case was challenged even before the decision
came. There were two objections raised in this case, they were:

 The person has no locus standi in the matter as she was not from India and
thus he cannot file the petition before the tribunal under Article 21 of the
constitution because she has not been given any of these rights as a non-
citizen.
  The matter was barred by the limitation law and should be dismissed. The
case was initiated in Goa but was then transferred to the National Green
Tribunal.

The tribunal disagreed from the first objection in the case. The scope of Article 21
should not be narrowed. The court held that even if the complainant was not Indian
then also the application was maintainable. A foreigner national can also approach
the National Green Tribunal.

In Almitra H. Patel & Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors.[2], Mrs. Amrita Patel had
filed a PIL under Article 32 of the Constitution in which the petitioner sought the
urgent improvement in the practices followed for the treatment of solid waste or
garbage in India. The tribunal considered it one of the major problems faced by India
over the last few years as lakh tonnes of garbage go without proper treatment and
just dumped outside the city in the outskirts.

The tribunal noted the requirement to solve this problem and make it a source of
power for the benefit of society. After hearing the case the tribunal issued over 25
directions. The tribunal asked all the states and UTs to strictly follow and implement
the Solid Management Rules, 2016. A complete prohibition on open burning of
waste on lands was made after the case.

In Samit Mehta vs. Union of India and Ors., an environmentalist filed an application
regarding the damage caused by the sinking of a ship which was carrying coal, fuel
oil and diesel. Due to the sinking, a thick oil layer was formed on the surface of the
sea which caused damage to the marine ecosystem. The tribunal was of the view that
negligence could be attributed to some of the respondents and they had not adhered
to the pre-voyage principles. In this case ‘Polluter Pays’ principle was invoked.

In Save Mon Region Federation and Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors., an
organization named Save Mon Region Federation filed an appeal along with a social
activist for the clearance given to a hydro project worth INR 6,400 crore. The project
was close to a wintering site for a bird Black-necked Crane, which is included under
Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It also comes under
the ‘Threatened Birds of India’ literature by the appellants in this case.

It also had other endangered species such as the red panda, snow leopard, etc. The
tribunal gave orders to suspend the clearance for the project. It also directed the EAC
to make a new proposal for environmental clearance. The tribunal also directed the
Ministry of Environment and Forest in the country to prepare a study on the
protection of the bird involved in the case.

In the case of Srinagar Bandh Aapda Sangharsh Samiti & Anr. v. Alaknanda hydro
Power Co. Ltd. & Ors., the principle of no-fault liability got invoked. In this
judgement, the NGT relied on the ‘polluter pays’ principle and made a private entity
liable to pay compensation. They were made the subjects to a code of environmental
jurisprudence.
 Conclusion
The fast expansion of Industries and the beginning of developmental activities in the
country a large number of environmental issues have begun to come up. There are a
number of instances in which these human activities have caused damage to the
environment which in some cases cannot be recovered.

India is one of the nations in the world who give a high amount of importance to
environmental conservation and its protection. There are already a number of
legislations which have been passed by the Parliament to deal with the environment
and forest conservation and their protection. The Green Tribunal adds another
feather to this by specifically dealing with environmental issues.

There have been other such bodies like the NEAA and NETA which have failed to
serve the purpose for which they were established but it will be unfair to compare
them to the Green Tribunal. Failures committed in the past must not stop us from
moving forward to new future beginnings.

For a country that has faced one of the world’s most horrifying industrial disasters
i.e. the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the setting up of a body like the National Green
Tribunal obviously seems to be a brilliant idea. The critics of the Tribunal fear that
it is going to deliver more of the same.

Although, the Act is still facing a lot of criticism, yet its basic framework appears
reassuring and it is hard to say that it is not the step in the right direction. It would
evoke the much-needed reform within the method the courts contend with
environmental problems and additionally the method individuals understand
environmental harm.

With the introduction of a system that supports and encourages environmental

justice, the inexperienced assembly shall create the Indian nation a task model for
its neighbouring nations of South-East Asia.