A functional Green Tribunal - Article by Kanchi Kohli in mylaw.net

The Delhi High Court in its order in C.M. No. 15895/2005 in Writ Petition Number 17682/2005 relating to the National Environment Appellate Authority (“the NEAA”) had vehemently said the following.

“The numerous orders passed by this court in the past three years reflect both the concern of the court and the considerable restraint exercised by it in refraining from proceeding against the concerned officials for disobeying its binding orders. However, the government has failed to take satisfactory steps to address the concern expressed by this court. It has failed to comply with the court's orders and has left it with no choice but to issue further mandatory directions to ensure that the legislative mandate contained in the NEAA Act is not frustrated by executive apathy. The government has to be made accountable in law for its disobedience of the court's orders…”

What was the story here and why does it have a bearing on current developments? In my last missive, I had assured more details about the setting up of the National Green Tribunal (“the NGT”), which began its first hearing on July 4, 2011. Before the future begins to roll, the past promises a fairly interesting story.

In 1997, the NEAA had been instituted essentially as a redressed mechanism where any aggrieved person could challenge the grant of environment clearances to industrial and infrastructural projects. Even up to the time it was dissolved in 2010 with the coming into being of the NGT, it had never really functioned to its full potential. The NEAA had been constituted in full capacity only in 1997 when Justice N. Venkatachala, a retired Supreme Court judge, was appointed its head. The full composition existed till 2000 only, which is when the Authority hardly heard any cases before it.

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