Ikshita Dey

LLB - Third Year

Roll No: 21/K.L.C-L.L.B/121
16 October 2023

NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL VISIT

Date: 16 October 2023

INTRODUCTION
This report elaborates the experience of the field
visit undertaken by the final year students of LLB
and BA LLB. The place of the field visit was National
Green Tribunal (NGT), Eestern Zone located at
culcutta. The visit was organized by assistant
professor Monoranjan Halder and assistant
professor Diksha Pathan of Kingston Law College on
Monday 13th of May 2024.The purpose of the
visit was to gain insights into the functioning,
structure, and significance of the NGT, which
plays a vital role in ensuring environmental
justice and the protection of our natural
resources.

OBJECTIVE
The basic objective of our visit to the National
Green Tribunal (NGT) was to gain a
comprehensive understanding of its functioning and
role in environmental governance. The NGT is a
specialized judicial body established under the
National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, tasked with
resolving disputes related to environmental
protection and conservation. Our objective was to
explore how the NGT operates, its decision-making
processes, and its impact on environmental
justice.During our visit, we had the opportunity to
attend hearings and observe firsthand how cases
were presented, argued, and adjudicated upon by
the tribunal members. Additionally, we engaged
in discussions with NGT officials and legal experts
to delve deeper into their perspectives on pressing
environmental issues. Through this visit, we aimed
to analyze the effectiveness of the NGT as a forum
for addressing environmental concerns and
promoting sustainable development.

Overview Of The National Green Tribunal’s

STRUCTURE
The National Green Tribunal has been established
on 18.10.2010. The Tribunal shall not be bound
by the procedure laid down under the Code of
Civil Procedure, 1908. However, the Tribunal shall
be guided by principles of Natural Justice. The
Principal bench of the Tribunal is at New Delhi while
Zonal benches are situated at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata
and Chennai.
NGT is a specialized judicial body in India that was
established under the National Green Tribunal Act,
2010. The Act came when Mr. Jairam Ramesh was
the Minister of Environment and Forest.Since the
NGT is a tribunal the laws of Civil Procedure Code
and the laws of Evidence are not applicable here. Its
primary objective is to effectively handle cases
related to environmental protection and
conservation. The NGT plays a crucial role in
addressing environmental disputes, providing
speedy justice, and promoting sustainable
development.
In the Indian Constitution it is clearly mentioned in
the Chapter IV of Directive Principles ofState Policy
(DPSP) that “it is the duty of the state to protect
and improve the environment and tosafeguard the
forests and wildlife of the country and bestow upon
the citizens the duty to protectthe environment”.
So, in 2010, the government of India had enacted
the act named National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
This act enabled the creation or formulation of a
special green tribunalwhich would handle the cases
comes in the court which are concerning
environmental issues.The inspiration for setting
up this act comes from Article 21 of Indian
Constitution which guarantees the citizens of
Indian a right to clean and healthy environment.
Further, India became the 3rd country in the whole
world after Australia and New Zealand which has a
special and speedy courts and quasi-judicial bodies
which deal with environment-related cases after
enacting this National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.
Further the specific goal of UN 2030 is with the
agenda for the Sustainable Development of
Environment can be achieved by only setting up the
essential courts and tribunals are working in various
countries and more courts are being planned to be
established for further improvement.The
establishment of (NGT) has emerged a
powerful element for the enforcement
orimplementation of Environmental legislation
made in India. Further one more new variation
wasbrought up by NGT which provide a strict
penalty for disregarding the orders given by
thetribunal. The implementation of tribunal
judgements results in dealing with such cases in
aneffective manner as compared to other Civil
Courts which used to deal with environmental
issuesas well.The Act of National Green Tribunal,
2010 consist of 38 section, 5 chapters and 3
schedules. Itwas established on 18th October 2010.
Major Objectives behind enacting this Act are to
bring effective and expeditious disposal of cases
which are concerning the protection and
conservationof the environment, forests and other
natural resources and to provide relief and
compensation for any damages caused to persons
and properties etc.
The National Green Tribunal is comprised or
formed with three major bodies namely, the
Chairperson, the Judicial Members, and the Expert
Members. Further there are minimum 10 and
maximum 20 fulltime judicial and expert members
in the NGT. All of these are compulsory to hold the
office for five years and which are not eligible for
reappointment. Chairperson of NGTis appointed by
the Central Government of India in accordance with
Chief Justice of India and for Judicial and Expert
Members a selection committee is formed by the
central government of India. So, basically this act is
related to the disposal of civil cases in relation to
environmenta protection and also for the
conservation of natural resources. There is an
increase in the legal rights, and which related to
environment and protecting environment.

Jurisdiction
NGT shall have the jurisdiction over all civil cases
where a substantial question relating to
environment including enforcement of any legal
right relating to environment, is involved and such
question arises out of the implementation of the
enactments specified in NGT Act and also for such
area or areas, as the Tribunal may think fit. The
Tribunal's dedicated jurisdiction in environmental
matters shall provide speedy environmental
justice.The purpose of this is to help reduce the
burden of litigation of higher court.

Overview of the Visit

The visit was organized on Monday 16th of October
2023, where students of the final year of LLB and BA
LLB visited the National Green Tribunal (NGT),
Western Zone located at Camp, Pune. At the
campus the students visited the court room where
the proceedings are conducted and the video
conferencing room in court room 1.An interactive
session was conducted between Advocate
Prathamesh Kattepatil who is a practicing advocate
and also deals with the matter relating to
environment before the NGT. He gave us an
overview of the NGT, the functions of the NGT, the
punishment that the NGT can award and the
powers of the NGT. All the students visited the
court room and video conferencing room where the
discussions were held followed by a question and
answer rounds. The visit brought to light the scope
and opportunities that the NGT beholds for the
future lawyers. It forced the students to wonder
about the kind of power that vests with the NGT.
The visit also enlightened the students about some
benchmark case law’s that took place here and
most of all it made them realize about the
importance of protecting the environment.

Conclusion And Implications Of The Visit

To The National Green TribunalIn conclusion, the
visit to the National Green Tribunal (NGT),Eastern
Zone located at Kolkata, provided valuable insights
into its functioning and its role in safeguarding the
environment. The NGT stands as a crucial institution
in addressing environmental concerns and
ensuring sustainable development. During the
visit, it became evident that the NGT has been
successful in handling a wide range of cases
related to pollution, deforestation, and other
environmental issues.
Expression of Gratitude
In concluding this report on my visit to the National
Green Tribunal (NGT), I would like to express my
sincere gratitude to the entire NGT team for their
warm welcome, invaluable insights, and
commitment to environmental justice. My visit
was not only educational but also deeply
inspiring. The passion and dedication displayed by
the judges, advocates, administrative staff, and all
those associated with the NGT left a lasting
impression.

I would like to extend my special thanks to

Respected assistant professor Monoranjan Halder
and assistant professor Diksha Pathan of Kingston
Law College for facilitating my visit and ensuring
that I had the opportunity to gain firsthand
knowledge of the NGT's operations. Your
guidance and willingness to share information
were instrumental in making this visit a success.
A heartfelt thank you to the National Green
Tribunal and K.L.C for organising such an inspiring
visit.