Parrikar says circuit bench of NGT not feasible in Goa

Even as the Bombay High Court has recommended setting up a circuit bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Goa, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today said it is not possible.
The Goa bench of Bombay high court earlier this month quashed a notification of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change which said that cases emanating from the coastal state would be heard by the NGT's principal bench at Delhi instead of the NGT bench at Pune.
The high court set aside the notification in response to PILs, restoring the jurisdiction of Pune bench over the cases from Goa, and also suggested that a circuit bench of the green tribunal be set up in the state.

"Personally, I am not in favour of setting up a circuit bench of NGT in Goa. It is not possible," Parrikar said, speaking to reporters here.
Setting up a circuit bench "is not an easy task", he said.
"The government has already made its stand clear that Pune was proving to be logistically inconvenient and putting a significant financial strain on the exchequer of the state of Goa," he said.
The state government had informed during the hearing before the high court that there was no space for setting up a circuit bench at the old district court building or the Spaces Building at Patto Plaza in Panaji, Parrikar added.

Environmental activists had challenged the Union ministry's decision to shift the jurisdiction over Goa cases from the Pune NGT bench to Delhi.