The Constitution of India through its directive principles
of state policy (DPSP) mentions that “it is the duty of the state to protect
and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of
the country and bestow upon the citizens the duty to protect the environment”.
In reality the implementation of DPSPs immediately after independence was a
difficult task for government as there were many other problems that were given
priority over the environment. To overcome the basic problems of poverty,
illiteracy, unemployment and to provide basic health care facilities,
environment issues were not given that much importance. In order to increase
the production in the economy more and more industries were set up. This has
led to degradation of environment at a large scale in India and the priority in
the last decade had gradually shifted to protection of environment.
Origin of the idea of establishing
environmental courts in India
As a result of this dire need for speedy justice The
National Green Tribunal (NGT) was founded on 18th October, 2010 under the
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. It is a statutory tribunal which was enacted
by the parliament specially for hearing the matters concerning to environmental
issues. It was a result of long procedure and the demand for such tribunal
started long back in the year 1984 after the Bhopal gas tragedy. Then the
Supreme Court specifically mentioned the need for such tribunals in the case
where the gas leaked from Shri Ram food and fertilizers limited in Delhi.
The Supreme Court than in a number of cases highlighted the difficulty
faced by judges in adjudicating on complex environmental cases and laid
emphasis on the need to set up a specialized environmental court. it became
functional only because of repeated directions of the Supreme Court while
hearing the Special Leave Petition titled Union of India v. Vimal Bhai1.
Powers of NGT
The legislate Act of Parliament
defines the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 as “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”
- The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974;
- The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977;
- The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980;
- The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981;
- The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986;
- The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991;
- The Biological Diversity Act, 2002
The NGT has been given the power to regulate the procedure
by itself. It does not follow the principles of civil procedure code instead it
follows principles of natural justice2.
The NGT also at the time of giving orders shall apply the principals of
sustainable development and also the principal that the one who pollutes shall
pay. It will have the same power as of the civil court in deciding the matter
falling within these seven legal acts3.
The major benefit with NGT is that it has a strong order enforcing mechanism.
If the orders of NGT are not complied with than it has the power to impose both
punishment as well as fine. The punishment is up to three years and the penalty
is up to ten crore and for firms in can extend up to twenty five crores. Also
the director or manager of the firm can be punished or penalized if it is found
by the tribunal that the offence has been committed on the orders or with the
consent of such officer of the firm.
The act also provides various kinds of reliefs to the
persons who are affected by the degradation of environment as the inhabitant of
that particular area. One of the provisions of the act is to provide
compensation to the victims of any loss occurring from accident or leakage
while handling hazardous substance. So this provision basically will deal with
any loss which occurs due to leakage of some hazardous gas in a locality. This
was necessary because earlier law was silent in this regard due to which the
people who suffered damages in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy could not get proper
compensation from the union carbide.
Notable orders
Yamuna floodplain case
Recently in March 2015 NGT imposed fine
of Rs 5 crore on Art of Living
Foundation because it has organized World Cultural Festival on Yamuna flood plain
and affected the environment.
Yamuna Conservation Zone
On
25 April 2014, The NGT said that the health of Yamuna will be affected by the proposed
recreational facilities on the river. The NGT also recommended the Government
to declare a 52 km stretch of the Yamuna in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh as a
conservation zone.
Coal Blocks in Chhattisgarh Forests
The
National Green Tribunal has cancelled the clearance given by the then Union
Environment and Forests Minister, Jairam Ramesh, to the Parsa East and
Kante-Basan captive coal blocks in the Hasdeo-Arand forests of Chhattisgarh,
overruling the statutory Forest Advisory Committee.
Ban on decade old Diesel vehicles at Delhi NCR
An attempt to minimize air pollution
at capital of India and NCR PM 2.5 particles have reached alarming level. As
per this order, 10 yrs old vehicles are not allowed to ply.
Footnotes
1 SLP (civil) No(s).12065/2009
2 Section 18(2), national green tribunal act, 2010
3 Citizens welfare forum v. union of India (1996) 5 SCC 647
No comments:
Post a Comment