National Green Tribunal Act 2010

The National Green Tribunal Act 2010 was enacted by the Indian Parliament and received presidential assent on 2 June 2010, coming into force in October 2010. Its legislative foundation rests on Article 21 of the Constitution, which the Supreme Court interpreted in cases such as Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar (1991) to include the right to a healthy environment, alongside the Directive Principles in Articles 48A and 51A(g). The Act also discharges India's commitments under Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration and Principle 13 of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, both of which call upon states to provide effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings for environmental harm. The Tribunal replaced the moribund National Environment Tribunal Act 1995 and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act 1997, consolidating environmental adjudication into a single dedicated forum and making India among the first nations to establish a specialised green court of this kind.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is constituted under Section 3 as a body comprising judicial members and expert members, chaired by a sitting or retired Supreme Court judge or a Chief Justice of a High Court. Section 14 confers original jurisdiction over all civil cases raising a substantial question relating to the environment, where the question arises from the implementation of the seven enactments listed in Schedule I. These include the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, the Public Liability Insurance Act 1991, the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, and the Biological Diversity Act 2002. Section 14(3) imposes a limitation period of six months from the date the cause of action first arose, extendable by sixty days for sufficient cause. An applicant files before the relevant bench, after which the Tribunal is directed by Section 18(3) to dispose of applications and appeals as far as possible within six months.

Section 16 grants appellate jurisdiction over orders made by authorities under the scheduled statutes, such as consent orders issued by State Pollution Control Boards or environmental clearances granted under the Environment (Protection) Act. Section 15 empowers the Tribunal to order relief and compensation to victims of pollution, restitution of damaged property, and restoration of the environment under the polluter-pays principle. Crucially, Section 20 directs the Tribunal to apply the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle, and the polluter-pays principle when passing orders. Section 19 frees the NGT from the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 and the Indian Evidence Act 1872, allowing it to regulate its own procedure under principles of natural justice. Appeals against NGT orders lie directly to the Supreme Court under Section 22 within ninety days. The principal bench sits in New Delhi, with zonal benches in Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai, and provision for circuit benches.

Among notable contemporary exercises of its authority, the NGT in 2015 banned diesel vehicles older than ten years from the National Capital Region to combat Delhi's air pollution, and ordered restrictions on construction activity during severe pollution episodes. In 2017 it imposed restrictions and remediation directives concerning the Ganga river under the M.C. Mehta line of litigation, and in 2019 it directed the Volkswagen group to deposit ₹500 crore for emissions violations relating to defeat devices. The Tribunal also adjudicated the Sterlite Copper plant closure in Tamil Nadu, where in 2018 it initially set aside the Tamil Nadu government's closure order—a ruling later overturned by the Supreme Court in 2019 on jurisdictional grounds, illustrating the contested boundaries of the NGT's competence.

The NGT must be distinguished from the Central Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Boards, which are executive regulatory authorities that grant consents and monitor compliance rather than adjudicate disputes; the NGT hears appeals against their decisions but does not perform their licensing functions. It also differs from a writ court: while High Courts under Article 226 and the Supreme Court under Article 32 retain constitutional jurisdiction over environmental matters, the NGT's jurisdiction is statutory and confined to the Schedule I enactments. Notably, the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, the Indian Forest Act 1927, and several Scheduled Tribe and forest-rights statutes fall outside Schedule I, leaving gaps that claimants must pursue through the constitutional courts instead.

A recurring controversy concerns the NGT's exercise of suo motu jurisdiction—acting on its own motion without a formal application. The Supreme Court in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai v. Ankita Sinha (2021) upheld this power, holding that the NGT possesses inherent authority to take cognisance of environmental degradation independently. Questions of enforcement persist, as the Tribunal depends on executive agencies to implement its orders, and several rulings have been stayed or reversed by superior courts on jurisdictional or proportionality grounds. The prolonged vacancies in judicial and expert member positions, criticised by the Supreme Court, have at times paralysed zonal benches and delayed disposal beyond the statutory six-month aspiration.

For the working practitioner—the civil-services aspirant, environmental lawyer, or policy researcher—the Act represents the institutional cornerstone of India's environmental governance and a frequent subject in UPSC General Studies Paper III. It exemplifies the global trend toward specialised environmental adjudication, integrating scientific expertise with judicial reasoning. Understanding its jurisdictional scope, its codification of the precautionary and polluter-pays principles, and the friction between fast-tracked environmental relief and developmental imperatives is essential for anyone analysing the balance between economic growth and ecological protection in contemporary India.