National Green Tribunal: What All You Should Know

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The foundation of the National Green Tribunal was laid down in the 186th Law Commission Report.
• NGT is established under Section 3 of the National Green Tribunal Act that was passed in 2010.
• The Supreme Court emphasized the importance of a body like NGT in the Oleum glass leak case.
• India became the third country after Australia and New Zealand to have a body like NGT to specifically deal with environmental disputes.
• NGT has the same power as Civil Court under the Civil Procedure Code.

INTRODUCTION

In the past decades, the world and humanity are continuously moving towards globalization, industrialization, modernization to fulfill their needs and improve their living standards. To achieve its demands, humans have interfered and encroached on the environment and proved detrimental to it. The unsatisfactory and meddling nature of human beings has again harmed the environment and has led to the extinction of many species of flora and fauna all around the globe. Scientists have often warned the countries, governments, and citizens to opt for sustainable and pollution-free development methods to prevent our planet from becoming extinct and make it more friendly and clean for future generations.

Many environmental activists, counties, organizations have been working day and night to make the world a better place to live in. These practices have led to the formation of several treaties that aim only at protecting and sustainability the environment. A new field of law has developed over the years called environmental law that specifically deals with the environment and its exploitation. The field of environmental law mainly focuses on protecting the environment and has led to the formation of several tribunals or authorities under the government that only with environmental matters.

In the past few years, a developing country like India has strived to shift to sustainable development. It has enacted several acts and laws to protect and safeguard flora and fauna of the country. On such very important Act was passed in 2010 called the National Green Tribunal Act that provides for the formation of adjudication authorities such as the National Green Tribunal that is specially formed to deal with the matters that deal with the questions and issues pertaining to the environment in the country.

BACKGROUND

The need for a National Tribunal that could deal with problems of the environment was felt for the very first time in 1986 by the Supreme Court in the Oleum gas leak case. There was an Oleum gas leakage from one of the factory units of Shriram’s Food and Fertiliser factory in Delhi, causing health and environmental hazards. The Supreme Court showed concerns for the safety of the people of Delhi and laid down conditions to be followed by the factories to work.

186th law report was another step that led to the formation of the National Green Tribunal. The law committee headed by Justice M. Jagannadha Rao proposed constituting environmental courts that could solely deal with the environment. It also stated that National Environmental Appellate Authority was established under the National Environmental Appellate Authority Act, 1997 to deal with environmental cases. However, it has done no or very little work.

After years of debates and discussions, the National Green Tribunal Bill was introduced in parliament in 2009 and is provided for establishing a Green Tribunal that would offer effective and fast redressal of causes related to the environment. The National Green Tribunal Act was passed in 2010. National Green Tribunal is established under Section 3 of the Act. India became the third country after New Zealand and Australia to have a separate forum to deal with environmental cases.

COMPOSITION

Section 4 of the NGT Act provides for the composition of the National Green Tribunal. The tribunal members can be segregated into three categories, chairperson, judicial members, and expert members. According to the Act, the Tribunal can have one chairperson, a minimum of ten and a maximum of twenty judicial members, and experts as notified by the central government.

For a person to be qualified as the chairperson or a judicial member of the Tribunal, he should have been a judge of the Supreme Court or a Chief Justice of High Court, and a person who has been a judge of the Hugh Court can also be appointed as the judicial member.

For the appointment as an expert member of the Tribunal, the person should have a degree in Master of Science with a Doctorate or Master of Engineering or Master of Technology with an experience of 15 years in the relevant field with practical experience of 5 years.

The tenure of members of NGT is five years with no provisions of reappointment, and the members cannot hold any office other than that of the Tribunal.

POWERS OF NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL

• Power to settle the dispute

According to Section 14 of the Act, the national green Tribunal holds power to have jurisdiction over all the civil cases where there is a substantial issue and question related to the environment. The Tribunal has the authority to hear all the disputes that arise out of the environment, and it can refuse to entertain any such dispute that is filed after six months from the date when the dispute arose.

The Tribunal enjoys the power to hear disputes under the NGT Act but and at the same time, it has the authority to hear cases under the following acts if there is a violation on the part of the government in following acts:

1. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
2. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991
3. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002
4. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
5. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977
6. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
7. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974

• Power to provide relief, compensation, and restitution

The Tribunal, according to Section 15 of the Act, has the power to provide relief and compensation to the victims of the pollution and other environmental damage, and such relief can be for restitution of property damaged or the restitution of the environment of the damaged areas.

• Jurisdiction

Section 19 of the NGT Act lays down the powers of the Tribunal and the procedure that has to be followed by it while dealing with environmental cases. According to the Section, the Tribunal is not bound by the procedure laid down in the civil procedure code and works on the principles of natural justice. The Tribunal is also not bound by the provisions and procedure of the Indian Evidence Act. It has the power to regulate its procedure, and order passed by the Tribunal is executable and binding as the decree of a Civil Court.

The Tribunal has the same powers as that of a Civil Court under the civil procedure code while trying a suit and performing functions of:

(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person before the Tribunal and examination under oath
(b) discovery and production of documents;
(c) receiving evidence;
(d) demanding any public record or document or copy of such record or document from any office according to the provisions of Sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act.
(e) issuing summons for the examination of witnesses or documents;
(f) reviewing its decision;
(g) dismissing an application for default or deciding it ex parte;
(i) pass an interim order (including granting an injunction or stay)

• Power to penalize

National Green Tribunal is established to maintain sustainability in the environment and preserve and safeguard the environment. It enjoys the powers of a Civil Court and can pass orders on individuals, companies, and government departments and penalize them for non-compliance with the order.
Section 26 of the Act states that whoever fails to comply with the order or award or decision of the Tribunal will be punishable with imprisonment up to a term of which may extend to three years, or with a fine which may extend to ten crore rupees if the non-compliance continues. It also states that if a company fails to comply with any such order, the fine will be up to Rs 25 crores and an additional fine of Rs one lakh per day if the contravention continues.

IMPORTANT CASES OF NGT

• Ms. Betty C. Alvares vs. The State of Goa and Ors.

This is an important judgment because in the instant case, the Tribunal gave the rights to a foreign person to file a petition before the Tribunal if it was to protect the environment. In this case, Betty, a foreign national, complaint against various instances of illegal construction in the Coastal Regulation Zone of Candolim, Goa.

The Tribunal, in very clear terms, stated that Ms. Betty had filed several other writ petitions and contempt applications before, and her application was maintainable.

• Almitra H. Patel & Ors. vs. Union of India and Ors.

In this case, Mrs. Almitra Patel and others filed a petition before the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution. It challenged the practices adopted by the state governments for the treatment and disposal of Solid Waste and garbage in India.

The Tribunal, in its order, directed the State and UTs governments to implement Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and it put a complete ban on the open burning of waste on the lands, especially landfills.

• Samit Mehta vs. Union of India and Ors.

In this case, an environmentalist filed an application relating to the sinking of a ship named M. V. Rak near the coast of South Mumbai that was carrying huge amounts of coal, fuel oil, and diesel, and the sink formed a thick layer of oil on the surface causing harm to marine life.

The Tribunal, in this case, upheld the principle of polluter’s pay and directed the respondents to pay a compensation of Rs 100 crore to the Ministry of Shipping.

CONCLUSION

The National Green Tribunal was proposed to reduce the burden of civil courts and create a special branch to deal with the disputes that came from environmental issues, but the success rate has not been excellent. The principal branch of NGT is situated in New Delhi. The applicants and claimants have to travel to Delhi to file cases before the Tribunal, which would have been easier if they could do the same in the civil courts in their vicinity. The Tribunal also lacks resources which makes it difficult for it to implement its orders and awards and hence is not taken seriously. People can always appeal against the order of the Tribunal before the Supreme Court and delays the matter to a length where the issue in hand gets out of hand.

Many environmentalists and activists had been continuously trying to bring several issues within the ambit of the Tribunal. However, it will take a long time and support of the government and the people to establish a stronghold of NGT in the country.