By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: In a major verdict, the Supreme Court said that National Green Tribunal (NGT) can take suo motu cognisance based on letter petitions and media reports under NGT Act 2010 and can also initiate proceedings on issues pertaining to environmental significance.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Hrishikesh Roy, and C T Ravikumar delivered the judgment on a batch of petitions seeking direction on the suo motu jurisdiction of NGT. “NGT is the institutionalisation of the developments made by this Court in the field of environment law. These progressive steps have allowed it to inherit a very broad conception of environmental concerns. Its functions therefore, must not be viewed in a cribbed manner, which detracts from the progress already made in the Indian environmental jurisprudence,” the judgement stated.
It further stated that, “The NGT Act, when read as a whole, gives much leeway to the NGT to go beyond a mere adjudicatory role. The Parliament’s intention is clearly discernible to create a multifunctional body, with the capacity to provide redressal for environmental exigencies. Accordingly, the principles of environmental justice and environmental equity must be explicitly acknowledged as pivotal threads of the NGT’s fabric.”
Panel files contempt plea as Kappan unwellNew Delhi: Kerala Union of Working Journalists has filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court alleging that journalist Siddique Kappan, who has been in prison for over a year, is sick and in severe pain due to lack of medical attention to him. The plea also cited an earlier SC order in which it had observed owing to the apparent precarious health condition of the arrestee, it is necessary to provide adequate and effective medical assistance to him.
