NGT has trappings of a court, has wide powers: Tribunal chief

Giving itself wide powers, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has held it has all the trappings of a "Court" as the distinction between a court and a tribunal is getting thinner day by day.
The green bench in a order held that the word "Tribunal" is a word of wide import and the words "courts and tribunals" embrace within them the exercise of judicial power in all its forms.
A bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar said the Tribunal has the complete trappings of a civil court and satisfies all the stated features for acting as an independent judicial Tribunal with complete and comprehensive powers.

"In our considered view, the NGT has all the trappings of a court and is vested with original, appellate and special jurisdiction, performing exclusively judicial functions and hence is a Court," it said.
The bench, in its 142-page order, said the very object and the purpose of the NGT Act would "stand defeated" and "frustrated" if every question relating to examining the validity of delegated legislation is first examined by a Constitutional Court and not the Tribunal.
It, further, held that there is nothing in the provisions of the NGT Act that directly or even by necessary implication is indicative of any external control over the NGT in discharge of its judicial functions.

"Minister of Environment and Forests(MoEF) is merely an administrative Ministry for the NGT to provide for means and finances. Once budget is provided, the Ministry cannot have any interference in the functioning of the NGT," it said.

A senior MoEF official noted that NGT was constituted to help reduce the burden of litigation on green issues in the higher courts but declined to comment on the Tribunal's order.
The official also noted that NGT is a specialized body constituted to handle green disputes and multi-disciplinary issues.
Ruling on the issue of territorial jurisdiction, the NGT bench said that the Chairperson of the Tribunal, as per provisions of the NGT Act, is vested with the power to transfer cases from one bench to another.

The Tribunal's order came on two sets of petitions filed before the NGT, demanding withdrawal of environment clearance given to the Vizhinjam Port Project in Thiruvananthapuram and the second one challenging the coastal regulation zone notification of 2011.
The project in Kerala involves the construction of quays, terminal area and port building and is expected to be completed in three phases.