NGT- A lost Case?

National Green Tribunal (NGT) was established on Oct. 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective, diligent and well- ordered disposal of cases which are mainly pertaining to the environmental issues. It had replaced National Environment Appellate Authority. The main objective of the Govt. was to provide a specialized forum for effective and speedy disposal of cases pertaining to environmental protection, conservation of forests and for seeking compensation for damages caused to people or firm or any Govt. agency due to the violation of environmental laws. This was the brief history and purpose identified by the Govt. for establishing this. Now after almost 8 years of its existence, The Big Question- Has it really served the purpose and has the govt. “sufficiently” supported this institution which was established to serve the greatest purpose and to save us from the most deadly fear? Unfortunately, we could not save this institution as it seems our priorities are not to conserve the Mother Nature. We are so much in fear of losing the public support that instead of guiding them to perverse and stand unified to save it we only play the blame game and fool people by projecting these institutions as iniquitous and gain electoral benefits. When NGT came into existence, it lacked infrastructure and facilities which made acting Chairperson Justice Naidu, other judicial and expert members to resign. Its only with the intervention of SC and appointment of Justice Kumar at the helm changed the fortune of NGT. But now again after the superannuation of Justice Kumar and expert member Bikram Singh Sajwan, the same things have come back to haunt this institution. With 70% vacancies, you cannot operate with such huge pile of pending cases. Just to substantiate my point, Justice Kumar, former chairman of NGT retired on 19th December 2017 and Govt. appointed interim Chairman for 2 months and said in the statement that the full -time head will be appointed in February 2018, we are still waiting for the full- time chief of NGT. When it was established, it NGT act 2010 says it should have a full- time chairman with at least 10 or maximum 20 full -time judicial members and at least 10 or maximum 20 full- time expert members. As of 22nd February NGT is without a Chairman and currently has only 3 judicial members and only 2 expert members. That puts a question mark on the intentions of the govt. Is it because in the past the NGT has given very stern judgments which have irritated the govt., whether its state or central and the tribunal was in no mood to pamper the Govt. and Ministry of Environment Forest and climate change and made it clear that they only meant business. The “infamous” judgment against the spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s World culture festival celebration in March 2016 on the banks of river Yamuna and was fined for Rs. 5 crores for the restoration of the floodplains, did not go well with the govt. However the Supreme Court had already directed that the floodplains of river Yamuna in the National capital of Delhi should not be used to hold any activity, so the decision to penalize the Art of Living was in line with the Supreme Court directives. Another landmark judgment was the rejuvenation of River Ganga. It was a landmark judgment for the cleaning of river Ganga, which ran into 543 pages and is the only exhaustive roadmap which deals with the river pollution both at the macro and micro level. The five-member bench with the help of experts assiduously studied the main reason behind the river Ganga pollution it included the waste material composition of each and every tributary which remit effluents into the river and has also given the specific directions to deal with it. Such microscopic detail on the longest river of India is unparalleled. The NGT engaged in a tussle with the state govt. regarding their plan to clean and way forward but found that they were all ill-informed about the situation on the ground. POSCO Case is one the most important case where NGT has given the order to suspend the environmental clearance to a steel plant in Odisha with the capacity of 12 Metric tonnes per annum. Although the project was backed up by both the center and the state govt. but the tribunal gave the decision in favor of local communities and the forest. Delhi Govt. was also in jeopardy when NGT banned 10-year-old diesel vehicles and also banned the sale of diesel SUVs in the capital and the phases deregistration of 15 years old vehicles That did not go well with the govt. and also with the automobile industry. In Uttarakhand and Himachal, Pradesh NGT has been very firm in dealing with the cases where environment and forests and interest of the local communities has been put under the threat in the name of development. NGT has sought compensation to the persons affected by the floods in 2013 by virtue of the dam from Alaknanda Hydro Power Company. NGT also directed the Ministry of Environment and forest and State of Himachal that all forest clearance related to Kshang Hydro Project in Kinnaur district should be placed before the gram sabha of the village Lippa and other of the district. The NGT has also imposed the complete ban on the construction in the core Shimla region including the green belt to prevent indiscriminate growth and threat to the lives of citizens. Here I would like to refer Indian Constitution which states that “The State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country and bestows upon the citizens the duty to protect the environment, it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife and to have compassion for living creature.” These are unadorned lines written in the constitution if we perceive how protective is our govt. including us as the aborigine of this country. The main reason for opposing these decisions and showing their public aversion is only to tell the voter that they are against it but since these are court orders, they are paralyzed. This is public appeasement policy and we are also to blame for this.So whats the future for NGT, since this is election year and we may see public placation in govt’s actions and I am sure NGT will not find any place in this and in The Financial Bill 2017 which was the threat to the autonomy of NGT and which had made it to the mercy of some of the official clearly indicates the seriousness with which the Govt. wanted to treat this great institution. Thanks to the Supreme court who had put the stay on this otherwise this would have been the final nail in the coffin. This is very disheartening as NGT is the only institution which has worked extensively, tirelessly and without prejudice over the years for the conservation of the environment. Climate change, pollution, mass urbanization with includes illegal construction and the agencies whether govt. or private brazenly violate the regulations have threatened our future existence and afraid without govt’s sustentation, NGT is a lost case till then.