Chennai
The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the first permanent Zonal bench, became operational in Chennai. It would cover four southern States and the Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.The guiding principles of the Bench would be sustainable development, precautionary principle and the ‘polluters pay’ concept. Of the over 400 cases filed and 250 cases disposed of by the Principal Bench in New Delhi, the cases from the southern zone were dominant, which could be due to high level of awareness. Already, environment-related cases in the Green Benches of the High Courts of the southern States were being transferred to the NGT’s southern zonal branch. NGT has got original and appellate jurisdiction on matters pertaining to seven Acts related to water, air, forest conservation, environment protection and biological diversity.