Complete examination study module strictly extracted from the official NIOS textbook for written and public examinations.
A Tribunal possesses the trappings of a court. While every court is a tribunal, tribunals are not courts. A tribunal is created by law for the adjudication of disputes relating to specific areas, whereas courts exist for adjudicating all kinds of disputes irrespective of specific areas. Whenever a specialized tribunal is created by statute, the jurisdiction of regular civil courts to adjudicate disputes in that designated area is taken away and transferred to the tribunal. Rules of natural justice ensure fairness in this adjudicatory process, and the final decision of a tribunal is generally designated as an award.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) was established on 18th October, 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. Its statutory purpose is the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection, conservation of forests, and other natural resources, including the enforcement of any legal right relating to the environment, and granting relief and compensation for damages to persons and property. The Tribunal is mandated to make efforts to dispose of applications or appeals finally within six (6) months of filing.
The NGT follows a circuit procedure to make itself accessible. It operates across five places of sittings: New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting, while Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata, and Chennai constitute the other four regional places of sitting.
The NGT comprises both judicial and expert members. The Chairperson is a judicial member who must be or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of India or the Chief Justice of a High Court, appointed by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. Other judicial members must be or have been Judges of a High Court.
An Expert Member must possess: (a) a doctorate degree in life sciences or physical sciences with fifteen (15) years of experience in the relevant field, including five years of practical experience in environment and forests in a reputed national institution, OR (b) administrative experience of fifteen (15) years, including five (5) years of experience dealing with environmental matters in the Central or State Governments or in a reputed institution. Members are appointed by the Central Government on the recommendation of a statutory Selection Committee. A bench must consist of at least two members (one judicial member and one expert member). Decisions are made by majority; in the event of an equality of votes, the matter is decided by the Chairperson or referred to another member not part of the tied bench.
The NGT exercises jurisdiction over all civil cases where a substantial question relating to the environment (including the enforcement of any environmental legal right) is involved, arising out of the implementation of the seven enactments specified in Schedule I of the NGT Act, 2010:
The NGT is empowered to grant: (1) relief and compensation to pollution victims, (2) restitution of property damaged, and (3) restitution of the environment for designated areas. Claims must be filed within five (5) years from the date the cause of action arose (the Tribunal may grant up to 60 additional days if sufficient cause prevented timely filing).
In cases of industrial accidents involving hazardous substances, the Tribunal strictly applies the No Fault Principle. Under this rule, the enterprise owner or employer cannot plead the defense of having committed no fault; liability attaches automatically because the accident occurred within their enterprise. Furthermore, the Tribunal is bound to apply the principles of Sustainable Development, the Precautionary Principle, and the Polluter Pays Principle.
The NGT is not bound by the technical procedure of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (CPC) or the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; it is guided directly by the principles of natural justice. However, it exercises all the powers of a Civil Court, and its award is executable directly by the Tribunal as a decree of a Civil Court (or transmitted to a local civil court for execution).
Non-compliance with an NGT order or award is a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment up to three (3) years, or a fine up to 10 Crore rupees (25 Crore for companies), or both. Continuing contravention attracts an additional daily fine up to 25,000 rupees (1 Lakh rupees for companies). If a Government Department defaults, the Head of the Department is deemed guilty unless due diligence and lack of knowledge are proven. Any person aggrieved by an NGT award may file an appeal directly before the Supreme Court of India within ninety (90) days.
Environmental disasters arise from both natural events and human activities. The adverse impact caused by indiscriminate disposal of hazardous industrial wastes constitutes an acute man-made disaster. The landmark historic catastrophe occurred in 1984 in Bhopal, where the release of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas from the Union Carbide pesticide factory killed thousands of individuals and caused permanent, generational health impairments.
To control hazardous substances, Parliament provided broad mandates under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, which were operationalized through delegated legislation. Delegated legislation refers to the rule-making function exercised by the executive branch under statutory authority conferred by the legislature. Under this power, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) framed the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 {HW (M&H) Rules}, followed by official implementation guidelines in 1991.
Under the statutory framework, a hazardous substance is defined not only as a substance, but also as a preparation, which by reason of its chemical or physico-chemical properties or handling is liable to cause harm to human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organisms, property, or the environment. Industrial manufacturing by-products and chemical effluents represent prime examples.
The HW (M&H) Rules prescribe a mandatory six-stage scientific sequence for handling hazardous wastes:
Because pollution transcends territorial borders, environmental protection demands binding multilateral action. The Kyoto Protocol operates under the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which entered into force on 21 March 1994 to tackle global climate change and rising planetary temperatures.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16 February 2005. Over 190 countries have ratified the Protocol. Significantly, the United States of America is not a member, whereas India is a member state. The Protocol establishes legally binding emissions-reduction obligations on 37 industrialized countries and the European Union (designated as Annex I countries) to curb the emission of six targeted greenhouse gases:
1. Binding Emissions Commitments: Mandatory obligation on Annex I industrialized parties to reduce greenhouse gas releases;
2. National Reduction Policies: Formulating domestic policies to curb emissions and enhance carbon absorption capacities;
3. Accounting, Reporting, and Review: Rigorous multilateral verification mechanisms to ensure transparency; and
4. Compliance Committee: A dedicated institutional enforcement mechanism to monitor and enforce state compliance.
India's landmark domestic environmental statute—the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986—was enacted under Article 253 to implement decisions taken at the 1972 Stockholm Conference. The textbook highlights eight foundational international instruments:
Around 1980, the Indian legal system discarded traditional, passive jurisprudence and embraced Judicial Activism. Judicial activism refers to the active role played by the higher judiciary in adopting progressive, innovative interpretations of constitutional provisions, substantially expanding their scope to address pressing socio-economic and ecological challenges.
The pioneering milestone where the Supreme Court first tackled the conflict between economic development and ecological preservation was Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra v. State of U.P. (the Dehradun Quarrying Case). A voluntary organization approached the Supreme Court under Article 32, alleging that commercial limestone mining caused devastating landslides and ecological disruption.
The Supreme Court ordered the immediate closure of dangerous mining operations. Acknowledging the financial hardship caused to mine lessees, the Court famously held that: "it is a price that has to be paid for protecting and safeguarding the right of the people to live in a healthy environment with minimal disturbance to ecological balance." Because Article 32 can only be invoked to enforce Fundamental Rights, this judgment marked the historic judicial recognition that the right to a wholesome environment is an organic component of the Right to Life under Article 21.
In the landmark M.C. Mehta v. Union of India trilogy (the Oleum Gas Leak Case), a lethal escape of Oleum gas from the Shriram Food and Fertilizer plant in Delhi killed one person and hospitalized several others. The Supreme Court formulated a new, non-derogable standard of corporate responsibility: the Doctrine of Absolute Liability.
The Principle of Absolute Liability: Where an enterprise is engaged in an inherently dangerous or hazardous industrial activity, it owes an absolute and non-delegable duty to the community to ensure that no harm results. If an escape occurs, the enterprise is absolutely liable to compensate all affected victims, and cannot take shelter under common law exceptions (such as an Act of God, sabotage, or natural disaster) established under the 1868 rule of Strict Liability in Rylands v. Fletcher.
Subsequent rulings reinforced the constitutional status of a clean environment:
Under traditional common law practice, court access was governed strictly by the doctrine of locus standi, permitting only directly aggrieved individuals to file lawsuits. In environmental matters, this technical barrier was dismantled. Today, any public-spirited individual or non-governmental organization (NGO) acting bona fide can petition the Supreme Court under Article 32 or High Courts under Article 226 to protect collective social rights.
In Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India (1984), Justice P.N. Bhagwati established that impoverished citizens may move the court "even by just writing a letter." In Tarun Bharat Sangh, Alwar v. Union of India (challenging mining inside the Sariska tiger sanctuary), the Supreme Court ruled that environmental PILs must not be treated as adversarial disputes between hostile parties; rather, the protection of ecology and wildlife is a matter high on the national agenda where the State and petitioners collaborate.
The Supreme Court expanded its remedial techniques under Articles 32 and 226 across four fronts:
| Dimension | Regular Civil Courts | National Green Tribunal (NGT) |
|---|---|---|
| Jurisdictional Scope | General jurisdiction over all civil and criminal disputes regardless of subject matter. | Exclusive jurisdiction limited to environmental disputes arising under Schedule I enactments. |
| Composition of Bench | Presided over solely by judicial officers trained in general law. | Comprises balanced benches consisting of both Judicial and scientific Expert Members. |
| Applicable Procedure | Bound strictly by technical rules of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and Indian Evidence Act, 1872. | Not bound by CPC or Evidence Act; guided flexibly by the Principles of Natural Justice. |
| Target Disposal Timeline | Subject to extensive procedural delays and backlogs without statutory disposal deadlines. | Statutorily mandated to make efforts to dispose of matters within six (6) months. |
| Appellate Forum | Appeals progress hierarchically through District Courts and High Courts. | Direct statutory appeal lies straight to the Supreme Court within 90 days. |
| Instrument / Event | Year & Place | Core Environmental Mandate as per Textbook |
|---|---|---|
| Stockholm Declaration | 1972 (Sweden) | First major global conference; introduced inter-generational equity and served as the direct basis for India's Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. |
| Vienna Convention | 1985 (Vienna) | A multilateral framework treaty for member states to share research and technology to protect the stratospheric ozone layer. |
| Montreal Protocol | 1987 (Montreal) | Required states to phase out ozone-depleting substances, granting developing nations a 10-year grace period. |
| Brundtland Commission | 1987 (UN WCED) | Seminal report that formally defined and established the legal doctrine of Sustainable Development. |
| Rio Declaration (Agenda 21) | 1992 (Rio de Janeiro) | Expanded sustainable development; reaffirmed the Precautionary Principle, Polluter Pays Principle, and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). |
| Convention on Biological Diversity | 1992 (Rio de Janeiro) | Three goals: biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, and equitable benefit-sharing; supplemented by Cartagena Protocol (2000). |
| Kyoto Protocol | 1997 (Kyoto, Japan) | Binding emission reduction targets for 37 industrialized nations + EU (Annex I) targeting six specific greenhouse gases. |
| Case Name | Core Subject | Landmark Legal Principle / Supreme Court Directive |
|---|---|---|
| Delhi Vehicular Pollution Case | Urban Air Quality & Public Health | Established EPCA in 1998; mandated phase-out of 15-year-old commercial vehicles, elimination of leaded petrol, and full conversion of public buses to CNG. |
| Ganga Pollution Case (AIR 1988 SC 1037) | Riverine Pollution by Tanneries | Directed tanneries to install effluent treatment plants within six months or face closure; prioritized health and life over industrial revenue. |
| Bichhri Village Case (Udaipur) | Toxic Sludge Groundwater Poisoning | Applied Absolute Liability and Polluter Pays Principle; ordered factory closures, Rs. 37.38 Crores remediation fine, plus 12% compound interest in 2011 for delay. |
| T.N. Godavarman Case (AIR 1997 SC 1228) | Forest Conservation & Timber Felling | Banned unauthorized tree felling; ordered saw mills within 100 km of Arunachal Pradesh border closed; created judicial monitoring committee. |
These five high-yield conceptual rules address common points of confusion and are essential for scoring in the NIOS written exam.
Established on 18 October 2010 with its principal bench in New Delhi and four circuit benches in Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata, and Chennai, the NGT must decide cases within six months using balanced benches of at least one judicial and one expert member, applying the strict No-Fault Principle alongside Polluter Pays and Precautionary doctrines under Schedule I enactments.
Framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 require adherence to a rigid six-stage process: identifying generating industries, compiling inventory data, characterizing waste properties (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, toxicity), locating disposal sites, conducting mandatory EIA with public acceptance, and implementing TSDF containment.
Adopted in 1997 under the UNFCCC and in force since 2005, the Kyoto Protocol imposes binding greenhouse gas reduction obligations exclusively on 37 industrialized nations and the European Union (Annex I countries) targeting six gases—CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Sulphur Hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs—while the United States remains outside its membership.
Through judicial activism beginning in Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra and consolidated in the M.C. Mehta Oleum Gas Leak case, the Supreme Court integrated the right to a healthy, pollution-free environment into Article 21, establishing the non-derogable Doctrine of Absolute Liability which eliminates all traditional common law exceptions for hazardous industries.
By diluting the traditional doctrine of locus standi, the Supreme Court allows any public-spirited individual or NGO to invoke Articles 32 and 226 for environmental harms, as seen in Tarun Bharat Sangh and Bandhua Mukti Morcha, transforming environmental litigation from an adversarial dispute into a collaborative national mission to enforce social and ecological justice.
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