Extortion is motive behind some cases before NGT: Goa minister

Some of the cases from Goa before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) are filed simply for extortion, state Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral claimed on Friday.

Speaking in the state Assembly here, Cabral also said the coastal state does not need a special NGT bench.

The minister was responding to a private member's resolution moved by Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, proposing to have a bench of the green tribunal in Goa.

"Almost 70 per cent of the cases filed before NGT Pune (the Pune bench) are from Goa, and some cases are for the purpose of extortion," Cabral claimed.

It was upto the NGT chairperson to decide whether it should have a circuit bench in a state, he added.

"NGT circuit bench for Panjim (Panaji) is not the need of the hour," the minister said.

Earlier, Lourenco said the NGT has powers which civil courts do not have, and therefore people have to go to Pune to fight cases of violation of environmental norms.

"Majority of cases pending in NGT are from Goa. Travelling to Pune is expensive affair not only for litigants but also for the government which is the respondent in almost all cases," the Congress MLA said.