Q. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in India:
1. is a constitutional body
2. is first of its kind in the world
3. has original jurisdiction in matters related to environment
Which among the above is / are correct statements?
Answer:
Only 3
Notes: National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (NGT) is an Act of the Parliament of India which enables creation of a special tribunal to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues. This court can rightly be called ‘special’ because India is the third country following Australia and New Zealand to have such a system. The Chairman of the tribunal is required to be a serving or retired Chief Justice of a High Court or a judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Tribunal has Original Jurisdiction on matters of “substantial question relating to environment” (i.e. a community at large is affected, damage to public health at broader level) & “damage to environment due to specific activity” (such as pollution). However there is no specific method is defined in Law for determining “substantial” damage to environment, property or public health.