Consider the following statements regarding the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act, 2010:

Question

Consider the following statements regarding the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Act, 2010:

I. NGT primarily hears civil disputes arising under specified environmental enactments.

II. Orders of NGT are appealable only before the respective High Court.

III. NGT can frame new criminal substantive law and independently prosecute offenders under the IPC.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. A. I only (Correct answer)
2. B. I and II only
3. C. II and III only
4. D. I, II and III

Correct Answer

Option A — I only

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is I only.

Key Points

• Statement I is correct. The NGT is a civil forum. It hears disputes involving a substantial question relating to the environment arising under the seven enactments in Schedule I of the NGT Act, 2010.
• Statement II is incorrect. Appeals from NGT orders lie to the Supreme Court, under Section 22, not to the High Court. This is the single most commonly tested fact about the Tribunal.
• Statement III is incorrect. The NGT cannot create substantive criminal law — only Parliament legislates — and it does not prosecute under the IPC. Criminal offences under the environmental statutes are tried by ordinary criminal courts.

Additional Information

• The Tribunal's powers are corrective and compensatory: it can order relief and compensation to victims, restitution of damaged property and restitution of the environment, and it can impose costs on a polluter.
• Section 20 obliges the NGT to apply the sustainable development, precautionary and polluter pays principles — an unusual statutory instruction to a tribunal to decide by principle.
• Non-compliance with an NGT order can attract imprisonment up to three years, a fine up to ten crore rupees, or both, with heavier penalties for companies — but that penalty is imposed under the NGT Act itself, not by the Tribunal writing new criminal law.
• The appeal to the Supreme Court must ordinarily be filed within ninety days of communication of the order.