A battery of senior advocates opposed his arguments, stating that only constitutional courts can exercise suo motu powers and a statutory tribunal like the NGT has to act within the confines of its parent law.
IANS
In a major verdict bolstering the powers of National Green Tribunal, the Supreme Court said that 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 environment.
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.
Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh had argued that the NGT has been conferred powers to pass orders for the restitution of environment, hence it can exercise suo motu powers.
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However, a battery of senior advocates opposed his arguments, stating that only constitutional courts can exercise suo motu powers and a statutory tribunal like the NGT has to act within the confines of its parent law.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, held that the NGT does not have the power to take cognisance of a matter on its own. But she also contended that the tribunal’s powers cannot be bound by procedural constraints.
“This is a peculiar tribunal dealing with environmental matters. Often, environment ends up being nobody’s baby,” she said.
The bench asked that if the tribunal were to receive information in connection to environment, will it not be duty bound to initiate process?
The ASG responded that once a letter or communication is received by the tribunal, it is within its power to take cognisance of it.
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