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Green Tribunal bill to be introduced this week

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The government is expected to introduce a draft legislation this week to set up a National Green Tribunal (NGT) for deciding civil matters related to the environment.

Talking to reporters after launching the Bengal Tiger Conservation Programme, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said he hoped that the bill be cleared soon by the Parliament as the Ministry had got full support from the Law Commission and other concerned stake holders.

“The Cabinet has already approved the proposal of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to bring a bill in this regard, proposing to take off the pressure from the already overburdened judiciary by handling all the civil cases related to forestry and environment,” he said. Once approved by Parliament, the four-member tribunal led by a full-time judicial member will decide civil cases relating to the central environment-related laws, and also take up public interest litigations.

Appeals against the environment courts would go to the Supreme Court. The new tribunal will also replace government bodies such as the National Environment Tribunal Act of 1995 and the National Environmental Appellate Authority Act of 1997.

Failure to comply with the orders of the green tribunal would result in heavy penalty and imprisonment of three years, as per the draft legislation.

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