Summary
The NGT closed a long-pending application concerning untreated municipal waste at Surat’s Khajod landfill, directing the applicants to monitoring committees constituted in separate proceedings. The Court held that expert committees may assist fact-finding but cannot replace the NGT’s statutory adjudication of environmental disputes, compensation and restitution. It restored the application for hearing from its previous stage, leaving all substantive environmental issues open.
Issues
- Whether the NGT could close environmental proceedings and require applicants to seek adjudication from monitoring committees.
Provisions considered
- Section 14 and Section 15(1), National Green Tribunal Act, 2010Environmental disputes and claims for compensation and restitution fell within the NGT’s adjudicatory jurisdiction, which could not be delegated to administrative expert committees. (¶¶ 10-12, 15-18)
Held
- The application concerning implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules and seeking environmental restitution and compensation fell within the jurisdiction conferred by Sections 14 and 15. Earlier benches had already issued significant interim directions. (¶¶ 3-5, 10-12)
- Court-appointed expert committees assist with technical fact-finding under defined terms of reference. Their reports remain open to objections and adjudication by the forum; they do not substitute for its decision. The NGT itself combines judicial and expert members. (¶ 13-15)
- The NGT could not abdicate its statutory responsibility to adjudicate compensation, property restitution and environmental restitution by relegating the parties to administrative monitoring committees. Such assistance cannot displace its core judicial function. (¶ 16-17)
- The closure order was set aside and the application restored for hearing from the stage preceding that order by the bench having requisite jurisdiction. The substantive merits were left open for decision after hearing the parties, in continuation of subsisting directions. (¶ 18-22)
Result
Appeal allowed; NGT closure order set aside and original application restored; substantive merits left open.