The National Green Tribunal (NGT) that came into being on Tuesday fulfils a long-felt need. It is a specialised authority that can go into all questions related to pollution of land, air and water. The country’s judicial system, burdened as it is with mounting civil and criminal cases, is hardly in a position to hear cases related to issues of environment which are, essentially, of a technical nature. There are a host of special laws like the Water Act of 1974, the Water Census Act of 1977, the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the Air Act of 1981, the Environment Protection Act of 1986, the Public Liability Insurance Act of 1991 and the Biological Diversity Act of 2002 that call for specialised hearing and adjudication.
Since the taste of the pudding is in the eating, we have to wait to see how the Tribunal functions. That India is the third country after Australia and New Zealand to set up the NGT is indeed commendable. However, efforts in the past to have such a body have not been successful. The failure of the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA), which necessitated the NGT, is a case in point. It will be remembered for singularly dismissing all the appeals. Needless to say, much will depend on those heading the Green Tribunal, which will have 20 members, 10 drawn from the judiciary and 10 specialists in environment-related subjects. The Government shouldn't fill it with its hangers-on.
As the on-going wrangling over the Posco steel and Vedanta mining projects in Orissa underscores, a balance has to be struck between the need to protect the environment and the need to achieve industrial growth. To leave everything to the Environment Ministry might not have been advisable, given the coloured opinions of those who head it. NGT chairperson and former Supreme Court judge Lokeshwar Singh Panta’s statement that the Tribunal would come down heavily on those who file public interest litigation (PIL) cases, either on frivolous grounds or because they have a vested interest, is as welcome as the decision to do away with the cap of Rs 25,000 that could be awarded as fine. When the principle is that the “polluter must pay”, the Tribunal should not be circumscribed by any limits on fines. It will also encourage those who have suffered at the hands of polluters to approach the NGT for justice.
