According to official data, out of the 23,720 cases filed before it, 20696 cases have been successfully disposed, leaving a pendency of 3024 cases.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been supportive and has cooperated with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), outgoing Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said on Tuesday. Justice Kumar was the chairperson of the Tribunal from December 2012, and passed landmark orders on cleaning of Ganga, Yamuna, Delhi's air pollution, and coal mining in Meghalaya. He was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in December 2009, and he served as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court before that.
His last day in the Tribunal witnessed a full-bench reference that was followed by a small function, attended by lawyers of the NGT Bar Association, as well as the Tribunal's staff and law students. Justice Kumar said that NGT, as an institution, has been able to leave international impact and that it became a star on the international map.
"We have been able to give inexpensive and expeditious justice. We have been able to bring the disposal rate to 182 per cent and cases are disposed off within the same year or within two years. I feel very satisfied about these contributions," Justice Kumar said.
He added that the Tribunal has been able to create environmental consciousness and awareness among the public, which he said, was the one of its biggest contributions.
Justice Kumar's retirement comes at a time when the NGT is facing a sort of a manpower crisis. Out of its sanctioned strength of 20 members, the NGT currently has just seven members, of which five are judicial members and two are expert members. The shortfall in manpower has led to reduction in hearings, impacting its healthy record of disposal of cases.
According to official data, out of the 23,720 cases filed before it, 20696 cases have been successfully disposed, leaving a pendency of 3024 cases. Justice Kumar played down the vacancies and said that it is only a matter of time before they are appointed.
He added that the NGT has stepped in when development was done in violation of laws in force. "Laws have been framed by the legislators, notifications are issued by the government, so all we say is please adhere to them, don't bypass them.
Wherever they are bypassed we certainly come in the picture, but wherever they are doing development in consonance with laws, we definitely let the development happen."
Outgoing Chief
Justice Swatanter Kumar was appointed as the chairperson of the National Green Tribunal in December 2012.
His retired from the post on Tuesday.
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