Environment Court for protecting Green Laws

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Bill, 2009 was introduced by Minister of Environment and Forests in July 2009 with the following objective to provide for the establishment of a National Green Tribunal for the effective an` expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relatinp to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons an` property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto,

The bill was passed by Lok Sabha in May 2010 as National Green Tribunal Bill2010 and got president’s assent as National Green Tribunal Act of 2010 on June2, 2010. This act envisages the setting up of a national tribunal, a judicial bodd exclusively to deal with environmental laws and to provide citizens a right to environment.

The main Bench of the tribunal is to set up in Bhopal,. On October 19, 2010, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has officially been notified by the Chairperson of the Tribunal, Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta. Justice PantY took charge as Chairman of National Green Tribunal on October 19, 2010w It would deal with all environmental laws on air and water pollution, the Environmen] Protection Act, the Forest Conservation Act and the Biodiversity Actw With this effort, India would join Australia and New Zealand, which have sucU specialized environment tribunalsw The National Green Tribunal is exclusively dedicated to environmental issuesw This Body, established by an Act of Parliament (being the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010) will have circuit benches across the country t[ try all matters related to and arising out of environmental issuesu The Tribunal which shall also consist of members, who are experts in the field of environmental and related sciences, has been empowered to issue directions for thV compensation and restitution of damage caused from actions of environmental negligence. In doing so, this is the first body of its kind that is required by its paren] statute; to apply the polluter pays principle and the principle of sustainable development.

Hope for positive result as it will really helpful for our Green India mission........

Yes our country needs such type of courts. Thanks for initiating.

Yes, this bill is long due.  But, it is never too late to bring in an Environmental Authority on the lines of US EPA.

As for any lacunae in the bill, they can be addressed as we gain experience in implementing the same.  But such lacunae shouldn't prevent us from supporting the bill to be brought in.

As someone has rightly pointed out that true spirit in implementation of any statute is need of the hour.  While I welcome this move, the renowned environmental activists, viz. Vandana Shiva, Sunita Narain, Medha Phadkar, Arundati Rai, Aruna Roy,  Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and the likes, should be involved in governing the body, as they have displayed their true spirit in spelling out the concern undeterred.  We have already seen a widespread criticism in the way the world body IPCC issued irresponsible statements on global warming and glacier melting.

Majority of the Indian Manufacturing Industries, who cause major threat to our environment, are functioning under the patronage of the politicians, who will in any way find loopholes in any law and convert them to their favour only.  In India, we are used to the phrase "Exception is our Rule".  We all know how to handle exceptions to get away from any stringent laws. Notwithstanding "proviso" available in every Rule or a Clause, in order to protect the environment for our future generations, we need to follow self-regulations only.  Law Enforcement and implmentation have failed and crippled our democracy.  As Dr. Manmohan Singh has said "The massive backlogs of cases in courts diminishes Democracy".

Again, a number of cases will be piled up in courts without the adequate strength of judicial personnel, either for want ot budget allocation or for want of political will.  We need to overhaul the entire system, re-visiting the entire systemic processes under microscopic scanne!

Yep, as long as they don’t play in the hands of dirty politicians comprising of self motives and corrupt mafias.

Everybody agree unanimously that there is an urgent need to save our Earth not only for ourselves but also to benefit our future generations. We all are well aware of the environment pollution and its impact on the humankind. Now it the right and correct time to take the next step ahead.

Now the setting of the NEPA would be considered as the next step taken towards the protection of our mother Earth. NEPA would be truly statutory autonomous body of the environment ministry. Due to the loopholes of the environment laws and since the laws are not executed in true spirit the NEPA is formed. The main aim of the body would be for protection of environment and speedy disposal of the environment disputes. This makes the attainment of justice easier. The most important aspect of getting justice is the speedy trial of the cases. Now the setting of the NEPA would put pressure on the executive to deliver not only justice but also ensure the speedy and effective disposal of civil cases relating to violation of forest and other environmental laws justice.

Further, one of the principles of justice would also be to give citizens civil damages for non-implementation of environment rules and legislations. So, let’s hope the NEPA when comes into force achieves whatever it promises to achieve…

Paramesh, amazing debate thanks for initiating......

I think this is a good step taken by the government and will really help in resolving the environmental issues. This should be implemented as soon as possible and it would be better if they come up with some new rules for protecting the environment.

:)

NEPA being an Independent agency will going to be environment saver. And all environmental issues will be independently attended for solutions and can bee addressed in swift-manner. this going to be platform for addressing all environment matters and will be questionable in terms of implementation of Environment Regulation.