National Green Tribunal Notes for UPSC Exam

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Background to NGT

• NGT was formed by a legislative act in parliament in 2010 in order to safeguard Article 21 of
constitution (Right to Life) by providing citizen and coming generation healthy and pollution
free environment.
• Provisions
o NGT is quasi-judicial body which can take environmental violation cases from public
spaces and penalise the perpetrator party and divert the fund toward victims for
rehabilitation, damages of property etc. due to environmental degradation.
o The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.
o The Tribunal is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of applications or appeals
finally within 6 months of filing of the same.
o Initially, the NGT is proposed to be set up at five places of sittings and will follow circuit
procedure for making itself more accessible; New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of
the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai shall be the other 4 place of sitting
of the Tribunal
• Members:
o The sanctioned strength of the tribunal is currently 10 expert members and 10 judicial
members although the act allows for up to 20 of each.
o The Chairman of the tribunal who is the administrative head of the tribunal also
serves as a judicial member.
o Every bench of the tribunal must consist of at least one expert member and one judicial
member.
o The Chairman of the tribunal is required to be a serving or retired Chief Justice of a
High Court or a judge of the Supreme Court of India.
o Members are chosen by a selection committee (headed by a sitting judge of the
Supreme Court of India) that reviews their applications and conducts interviews.
• The main focus for NGT Act was to provide relief to High Court and Supreme Court of
environmental cases and litigation, also to provide fast and speedy trial by setting 6 months
deadline.

How to strengthen NGT

• guidelines for the effective exercise of powers by the NGT.

• There should also be stringent guidelines in place for the appointment of expert members to
the Tribunal based on the suggestions of different environmental groups, legal experts, judges,
and academics
• National Green Tribunal should be equipped with all the resources required for scrutinizing and
reviewing petitions and investigating the intentions of petitioners who seek its attention.
• Its function should be more transparent than the Supreme Court’s in environmental cases. More
importantly, the procedures of PIL should be institutionalized

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 • make the implementation process more efficient through the marshalling of agencies
responsible for the control of pollution,
• legal framework also needs to be comprehensive and suitably designed for objective
interpretation of environmental laws and policies. There is a plethora of legislations on
environmental issues in India but many of them date back to the pre-independence era and do
not correspond to the policies or realities of the post-independence period. As a result, they
need to be reviewed and consolidated.

Some major judgements

• Fine on Art of Living

• Kochi circuit bench of the NGT banned all diesel vehicles more than 10 years old from operating
in six cities in Kerala.
• Ban on diesel cars in the Delhi region last year.
• NGT has also passed various prohibitory orders against sand mining in riverbeds that is being
done without environmental clearance.
• It has imposed a no-construction zone of 75 metres around lakes and stormwater drains in
Bengaluru.
• Penalising the Construction companies in Bellandur wetland in Banglore.
• Proposed plan for rejuvenating the Yamuna river for 52km stretch in Delhi and UP region.
• Cancelling clearance of CG coal mine, Vedanta and POSCO in Odisha.
• NGT cancelled clearance of a Mining project by Gogte Minerals in of Maharashtra

Issue - art of living (AOL) event

• The incident has set several unfortunate precedents.

• NGT’s real comedown was the readiness with which it allowed the show to go ahead on the
payment of Rs 25 lakh, just five per cent of its initial demand of Rs 5 crore. When a watchdog
organisation backs off repeatedly, it leaves behind the impression that it can be brushed off
• It has left behind the impression that it is legitimate to do environmental damage if
compensation follows.
• Further, it suggests that compensation is not necessarily laid down by a court — if the authority
of the tribunal is not absolute, it can be bargained with, as if it were a market entity.

Impacts of such religious congregation on ecology and evnironment

• 1)Large attendance means huge waste generation(organic+inorganic).Inadequate disposal

mechanism means they either seep to the ground or are discharged in the local waterbody(as
has happened in case of Yamuna)
• 2)To accommodate permanent infrastructures(bridges,roads,rooms etc) are built clearing
forest.Affects natural habitat of local species.

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 • 3)Huge stress put on local natural resource(like water).Leads to unsustainable extraction
thereby depleting ground water table.Affects natural water cycle.
• 4) To get rid of huge piles of waste ,garbage is burnt in open.Releases toxic gases.Compromises
local ecology by affecting health.
• 5)Logistical arrangement in form of transport leads to release of pollutants from vehicles.
• 6)Encroachment on the river floodplains affects natural flow and does irreversible damages to
the floodplain.Chances of flooding increases.
• 7)Also reduces ability of forest,waterbodies to act as carbon sink as the negative effect on
ecology increases their mortality.
• 8)In absence of access to grid for power supply use of diesel generator is necessitated.Releases
PM 2.5/10.Harmful to local environment and affects human health.
• 9)Compromises local soil quality. In the long run affects food security.
• Open defecation
• Noise pollution

Way forward

• Regulatory approach rather than prohibitory one

• Polluter pay principle
• EIA if large crowd is attending
• Allow only biodegradable material to be used in such events.

NGT ruling on prohibition on the use of plastic packaging in food and pharmaceutical formulations of
any kind

• certain pharmaceutical preparations packaged in PET bottles upon testing showed presence of
chromium, antimony, lead, etc at room temperature.
• tribunal slammed the MoEF over its affidavit which had said the ministry deliberated over
various aspects of pet bottles packaging of food and food products but concluded that there
was no conclusive data available to substantiate any claim.

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