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NATIONAL GREEN
TRIBUNAL:
FUNCTIONS &
POWERS
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INDEX

1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------3
2. Objectives---------------------------------------------------------------------------4
3. Power---------------------- -------------------------------------------------------4-5
4. Jurisdiction to the tribunal -------------------------------------------------------5
5. Landmark Judgments of NGT---------------- ----------------------------------6
6. Conclusion -------------------------------------------------------------------------7

1. INTRODUCTION
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Under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, National Green Tribunal was

established in the year 2010. Article 21 guarantees the citizen of India the right
to healthy environment. India is the third country following Australia and New
Zealand to have such system. The tribunal is a special fast-track quasi-judicial
body comprising of judges and environment expert who will ensure expeditious
disposal of cases.
“An Act to provide for the establishment of a National Green Tribunal for the
effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection
and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of
any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for
damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or
incidental thereto”.
On 18 October 2010, Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta became the first Chairman
of National Green Tribunal (NGT). Presently Justice Umesh Dattatraya Salvi is
the chairman of NGT.

The Supreme Court in M. C. Mehta v. Union of India observed that

“Environment Court”3 must be established for expeditious disposal of
environmental cases and reiterated it time and again. As a sequel to it the
National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and National Environment Appellate
Authority Act, 19974 were passed by the Indian Parliament. But both the Act
proves non-starter. They could not cut much ice and there was a growing
demand that some legislation must be passed to deal with environmental cases
more efficiently and efficaciously. Ultimately the Indian Parliament Passed The
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 to handle all the cases relating to
environmental issues.

In Charanlal Sahu v. Union of India the court opined that “under the existing
civil law damages are determined by the civil Courts, after a long drawn
litigation, which destroys the very purpose of awarding damages so in order to
meet the situation, to avoid delay and to ensure immediate relief to the victims,
the law should provide for constitution of tribunal regulated by special
procedure for determining compensation to victims of industrial disaster or
accident, appeal against which may lie to this Court on the limited ground of
questions of law only after depositing the amount determined by the tribunal.”
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2. OBJECTIVES
The NGT was formed with the objective of a special focus on environmental
related incidents including the protection of forest and natural resources.
Following are the major objectives of the tribunal:

1. To ensure that environment related laws are obeyed and act as a

watchdog in case of any violations.
2. To ensure the safety and conservation of forest and forest animals.
3. To prevent the harm caused to the environment due to government or
private actions.
4. To ensure proper implementation of environmental related laws as listed
in Schedule I of the National Green Tribunal Act.
5. To provide compensation to those who are victims of environmental
degradation and who have suffered damages as a result of it.
6. To work towards spreading awareness about various environment related
laws and the issues prevalent in the society.

3. POWER
The NGT has the power to deal with any violation regarding the above
mentioned laws and decision taken by the government under the same laws. The
NGT has a power, which is limited and tribunal can be called as a quasi-judicial
body, it is way different from normal courts, the NGT have the jurisdiction to
the only mentioned laws but other courts have the capability to deal with all
types of cases, The main reason to establish the NGT is to lessen the over
burden on the casual courts.
There are mainly 5 benches, each bench having their separate jurisdiction for
the functioning of the tribunal. The principal bench is located in Delhi and other
four benches are created on the different parts of the country, based on the
zones such as:
I. Southern zone which is located in Chennai.
II. Western zone which is in Pune.
III. Eastern zone in Kolkata.
IV. And lastly Central zone which is located in Bhopal
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The NGT constituted circuit benches to convene in places, like holding southern
zone bench in Bengaluru or Hyderabad rather than in Chennai. When it comes
to other zones, there can be circuit in Shimla, Shillong and Jodhpur.

4. JURISDICTION OF THE TRIBUNAL

When it comes to Jurisdiction of NGT, the tribunal holds jurisdiction over the
cases of civil including substantial question which involves a direct violation of
statutory environmental obligation in which large community is affected,
substantial damage to environment and property, damage to public health and
such questions which arises out of the implementation of the enactments
specified in the Schedule 1.

NGT being a statutory body similar to the court, also has appellate jurisdiction
to hear appeal as tribunal, The NGT has its own procedure regarding the
handling of the issue based on the principle of natural Justice, the principle of
polluter pays, the precautionary principle and principle of sustainable procedure
will be considered while passing any decision, order or award and not on the
basis of procedure laid down under the Civil Procedure Code or Criminal
Procedure Code.

The National Green Tribunal has power to hear all civil cases relating to
environmental issues and questions that are linked to the implementation of
laws listed in Schedule I of the NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL Act. These
included the following.

1. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1947;

2. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution ) Cess Act, 1947;
3. The Forest ( Conservation ) Act, 1980;
4. The Air ( Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981;
5. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1991;
6. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991;
7. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002
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5. Land Mark Judgments Of National Green Tribunal

1. When POSCO in the year 2012, which is among the world’s largest steel
maker, signed memorandum of understanding with the government of
Odisha to set up 12 million tones capacity steel project in Jagatsinghpur
district. When the villagers, started protesting against the 52000crores
which would directly lead to acquiring of 4004 acres, The NGT entered
and suspended the Order, this was considered as a radical step in favor of
villagers and surrounding environment
2. In the case of Almitra H. patel vs. Union of India 2012, this is about the
issue regarding solid waste management in India; NGT in this case
played a crucial role by stepping and putting an end to burning of wastes
on open ground, including landfills. It may be called as an landmark order
regarding the control of pollution.
3. In 2003, Alakanda Hydro power Co Ltd was ordered to pay Rupees 9.26
crores in the period of Uttarakhand flood to the victims in the states
Srinagar city within 30 days, the NGT by rejecting contention that
Uttarakhand floods were not an act of god, the company was directed to
deposit amount with environmental relief authority based on the principle
of pollution pays.
4. The NGT also played an important role by banning all diesel vehicles
plying on Delhi roads which are over 10 years old.
5. The NGT in the other issue, due to causing damage to the Yamuna
floodplains, held Sri Sri ravishankars art of living by holding cultural
festival in 2016. The Bench imposed a penalty of rupees 5crores in the
form of a compensation.
6. In the year 2017, The tribunal imposed in Delhi on use of non-
biodegradable plastic bags which are less than 50 microns and also
decided to fine rupees 5000 who ever found selling or using of such non-
biodegradable plastic.
7. In the recent judgment, The NGT has penalized the state of UP for
causing damage to the environment by letting flow of contaminated
untreated sewage water containing toxic substance such as chromium
directly into river Ganga.
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6 . CONCLUSION
The National Green Tribunal is a fast-track judicial body formed with the
objective of addressing the issues about the environment at the national level.
So far the NGT has been able to dispose of 90% of the registered cases which
means it has addressed 28000 out of the total 31000 cases. But there are serious
questions that are raised on the unregistered cases with many claiming that the
majority of the cases do not get reported due to lack of awareness.
NGT has given various path-breaking judgments and directives to the
authorities since its inception including a ban on noise pollution and illegal
mining, orders for wildlife protection and the preservation of biodiversity at
various places. Apart from that, NGT is diligently working towards ensuring
proper implementation of its orders. It has also played a crucial role in
addressing environmental issues in the post-industrial period.
National Green Tribunal has its own challenges, being a statutory body various
decisions by NGT are being challenged in the High Court's, since there is a lack
of clarity on the decision that can be challenged, the other such challenges faced
by the NGT is the absence of formula based mechanism to determine the
compensation.
The most important challenge by the NGT is that Wild Life Protection Act 1972
and schedule tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of forest
rights) act 2006 are excluded from the Jurisdiction of National Green Tribunal
thus in a way National Green Tribunal have their own advantages and
disadvantages, if all these challenges are met then the functioning of the NGT’s
could be enacted.
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