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| National Green Tribunal to be a reality soon |
| Vandana Gombar / New Delhi Aug 05, 2009, 01:47 IST |
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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) — a fast-track court for speedy disposal of environment-related civil cases - could be a reality in 2009 itself, according to officials.
Contrary to expectations, however, the Tribunal will not take over the thousands of ongoing green cases at various courts in the country. “There are 5,000 cases currently pending at various levels of the existing judicial bodies. These pending cases will not be transferred to the National Green Tribunal. All new cases, however, shall be required to be filed only before the NGT,” said Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh.
The minister had introduced the National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009, in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The Bill will be referred to a standing committee for examination and is likely to become law by November, he said.
The Tribunal will have a mix of members with experience in the judiciary and environment expert, with benches across the country. The first bench is proposed to be set up in Bhopal, a city which suffered the death of thousands due to a toxic gas leak in 1984.
It will have jurisdiction over all civil cases where a substantial question relating to the environment is involved and would also provide for relief and compensation to victims of pollution and other environmental damage. It shall be the “endeavour” of the Tribunal to dispose of applications and appeals within six months of filing, according to the Bill.
Every order of the Tribunal shall be final, says the Bill. “By deliberately not providing any further mechanisms of appeal (save for extraordinary remedies under the Constitution), it eliminates redundant layers of appeal,” said Ramesh.
The NGT would, therefore, be a one-stop shop for dealing with environment cases, and with in-house access to the necessary environmental expertise.
Industry has welcomed the Bill -– which would also lead to repeal of the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997.
“What is important is to see its implementation,” said T S Panwar, director at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri). He cites the example of the National Environment Appellate Authority, where the post of chairman was vacant for many years because the pool of interested and eligible people — a judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice of the High Court — was so limited.
“Staffing could be an issue again,” he adds, since the eligibility criteria for chairing the NGT is the same.
“The thought behind the proposed tribunal is very good, though the bill is not so articulate about the operational micro details of its working. We cannot therefore take a decision on how effective this is going to be,” said KPMG’s associate director Arvind Sharma.
The one upside of centralising all new cases is the consistency in decision-making, said another industry official. “Right now, you have a situation where you say that Akshardham Temple is fine but the construction of the Commonwealth Games village alongside is not. That is inconsistent,” say an industry official.
“One hopes that the NGT will be able to harmonise environmental concerns with livelihood and poverty alleviation concerns,” he added.
Industry officials say the greatest downside risk is a Green Tribunal populated by green activist warriors who are only focusing on environment to the detriment of development. “There are costs to perverse environmental action and we have to guard against that,” he warned.
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