the commencement of this act shall be construed in relation to any state or part thereof as a reference to the coming into force of that provision in that state or part thereof, 2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,— definitions (a) "accident" means an accident involving a fortuitous or sud- © den or unintended occurrence while handling any hazardous substance resulting in continuous or intermittent or repeated exposure to death of, or injury to, any person or damage to any property or environment but does not include an accident by reason only of war or radio-activity; (b) "bench" means a bench of the, tribunal; (c) "chairman" means the chairman of the tribunal; (d) "environment" includes water, air and land and the interrelationship which exists among and between water, air and land, and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organism 14 and property; (e) "handling", in relation to any hazardous substance, means the manufacture, processing, treatment, package, storage, transportation by vehicle, use, collection, destruction, conversion, offering for _ sale, transfer or the like of such hazardous substance; (f) "hazardous substance" means any substance or preparation: which is defined as hazardous substance in the environment (protection) act, 1986, and exceeding such quantity as specified by the central government under the public liability insurance act, 1991; (g) "judicial member" means a member of the tribunal ap- 2: pointed as such under this act, and includes the chairman or a vice-chairman who possesses any of the qualifications specified in sub-section (3) of section 11; (kh) "member" means a member (whether judicial or techni cal) of the tribunal, and includes the chairman and a vice- chairman; (i) "notification" meang a notification published in the official gazette; : (j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act; ? (k) "rules" means the rules made under this act; (1) "technical member" means a member of the tribunal who is not a judicial member within the meaning of clause (g); (m) "tribunal" means the national environment tribunal established under section 9; (n) "vice-chairman" means the vice-chairman of the bunal;explanation—in the ease of the tribunal having two or more vice-chairmen, references to the vice-chairman in this act shall be construed as a reference to each of those vice-chairmen; and (o) "owner" means a person who owns, or has control over 5 handling, any hazardous substance at the time of accident and includes,— (i) in the case of a firm, any of its partners; (ii) in the case of an association, any of its members; and (iii) in the case of a company, any of its directors, mana- 10 gers, secretaries or other officers who is directly in charge of, and is reponsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, )  compensation for death of, or injury to a person and15 damage to property and environment 3 (1) where death of, or injury to, any person (other than a workman) or damage to any property or environment has resulted from an accident, the ownér shall be liable to pay compensation for such death, injury or damage under all or any of the heads specified in the schedule 20 (2) in any claim for compensation under sub-section (1), the claimant shall not be required to p'ead and establish that the death, injury or damage in respect of which the claim has been made was due to any wrongful act, neglect or default of any person explanation—for the purposes of this section,— 25 (i) "workman" has the meaning assigned to if in the workmen's compensation act, 1923; (ii) "injury" includes permanent total or permanent partial disability or sickness resulting out of an accident, (3) if the death, injury or damage caused by an accident cannot be 30 attributed to any individual activity but is the combined or resultant effect of several such activities, apportions and processes, the tribunal may apportion the liability for compensation amongst those responsible for such activities, apportions and processes on an equitable basis, 4 the central government may, by notification, exempt from the 35 operation of this act any owner, namely: - (a) by the person who has sustained the injury; (b) any state government; (c) any corporation owned or controlled by the central government or a state government; or 40 (d) any local authority liability to pay compensation in certain cases on principle of no fault exemption from liability 5 (1) an application for claim for compensation may be made—(a) by the person who has sustained the injury; application for claim for compensation (b) by the owner of the property to which the damage has been caused; : (¢) where death has resulted from the accident, by all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased; (d) by any agent duly authorised by such person or owner of such property or all or any of the legal representatives of the deceased, as the case may be; ' (e) by any representative body or organisation, functioning in 1 the field of environment and recognised in this behalf by the central government, under all or any of the heads specified in the schedule; or (f) by the central government or a state government or a local authority under all or any of the heads specified in the 1 schedule; - provided that where all the legal representatives of the deceased have not joined in any such application for compensation, the application shall be made on behalf of or for the benefit of all the legal representatives of the deceased and the legal representatives who have not 20 so joined shall be implealed as respondents to the application (2) any claimant making an application under sub-section (1) may also make an application before the tribunal for such relief as is provided in the public liability insurance act, 1991: provided that no such application shall be made if the relief has 25 been received by the claimant earlier or an application made by the claimant to the collector under the said act is pending and has not been withdrawn, (3) the tribunal shall have, and exercise, the same jurisdiction, powers and authority in respect of the matters specified in the public 30 liability insurance act, 1991 as the collector has and may exercise and, 6 for this purpose, the provisions of that act shall have effect subject to the modification that the references therein to the collector shall be construed as including a reference to the tribunal (4) every application under sub-section (1) shall be made to the 35 tribunal and shall contain such particulars and shall be accompanied by such documents and such fee, not exceeding one thousand rupees, as may be prescribed: | provided that no fee shall be payable by a person whose annual income is below the prescribed limit or by a representative body or 40 organisation referred to in clause (e) of sub-section (1) or by the central government, a state government or a local authority (5) no application for compensation shall be entertained unless it is made within five years of the occurrence of the accident, ode6 (1) on receipt of an application under sub-section (1) of section 5, the tribunal may, after such inquiry as it may deem fit, reject the application summarily (2) where the tribunal does not reject the application under sub- 5 section (1), the tribunal may, after giving notice of the application to the owner and after giving the parties an opportunity of being heard, hold an inquiry into the claim or each of the claims and may make an award determining the amount of compensation which appears to be _ just and specifying the person or persons to whom such amount of 9 compensation shall be paid (3) the tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down by the code of civil procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and, subject to the other provisions of this act and of any rules, the tribunal shall have power to regulate its own procedure 15 including the fixing of places and times of its inquiry (4) the tribunal shall have, for the purpose of discharging its functions under this act, the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the code of civil procedure, 1908, while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:— (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; (b) requiring the discovery and production of documents; (c) receiving evidence on affidavits; (d) subject to the provisions of sections 123 and 124 of the indian 25 evidence act, 1872, requisitioning any public record or document or copy of such record or document from any office; (e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents; ; (f) reviewing its decisions; 30 (g) dismissing an application for default or deciding it ex-parte; (h) setting aside any order of dismissal of any application for default or any order passed by it ex~parte; and (i) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed, 7 notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this 35 act or in any other law for the time being in force, no interim order (whether by way of injunction or stay or in any other manner) shall be made on, or in any proceedings relating to, an application unless— (a) copies of such application and of all documents in support of the plea for such interim order are furnished to the party against 40 whom such application is made or proposed to be made; and (b) opportunity is given to such party to be heard in the matter: procedure and powers of tribunal condilions as to making of interim ordersprovided that the tribunal may dispense with the requireme of clauses (a) and (b) and make an interim order as an 'excep measure if it is satisfied, for reasons to be recorded in writing, th it is necessary so to do for preventing any loss or damage bein, caused to the applicant which cannot be adequately compensated money but any such interim order shall, if it is not sooner va cated cease to have effect on the expiry of a period of fourteen days fro the date on which it is made unless the said requirements have bee} complied with before the expiry of that period and the tribuna has continued the operation of the interim order 8 where in respect of death of, or injury to, any person or damage to any property, the owner liable to pay compensation under this 1 reduce tion of amount is also liable to pay any amount as relief under the public liabi y insurance act, 1991 or any other compensation under any other law, the amount of compensation payable under this act shall be reduced by the amount of relief and other compensation paid under any other law, of relief paid under any other law  chapter iit a esyablishment or national environment tribunal and benches thereof9 the central government shall, by notification, establish a tribunal, 59 to be known as the national environment tribunal, to exercise the jurisdic-— tion, powers and authority conferred on it by or under this act establishment of national environment tribunal, 10 (1) the tribunal shall consist of a chairman and such number of vice-chairmen, judicial members and technical members as the central government may deem fit and, subject to the other provisions 5 of this act, the jurisdiction, powers and authority of the tribunal may - be exercised by benches thereof composition of tribunal and benches thereof (2) subject to the other provisions of this act, a bench shall consist of one judicial member and one technical member (3) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the 39 chairman— (4) may, in addition to discharging the functions of the judicial member or the technical member of the bench to which he is appointed, discharge the functions of the judicial member or, as the case may be, the technical member, of any other bench; 35° (b) may transfer the vice-chairman or other member from one bench to another bench; (c) may autherise the vice-chairman or the judicial member or the technical member appointed to one bench to discharge also the functions of the vice-chairman or, as the case may be, the 40 judicial member or the technical member of another bench; and? (d) may, for the purpose of securing that any case or cases which, having regard to the nature of the questions involved, requires or require, in his opinion or under the rules made by the central government in this belialf, to be decided by a bench com- 5 posed of more than two members, issue such general or _ special orders, as he may deem fit: provided that every bench constituted in pursuance of this clause shall include at least one judicial member and one technical member 10 (4) notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section, it sha!l be competent for the chairman or any other member authorised by the chairman in this behalf to 'function as a bench consisting of a single member and exercise the jurisdiction, powers and authority, of the tribunal in respect of such classes of cases 15 of such matters pertaining to such classes of cases as the chairman may, by general or special order, specify: provided that if at any stage of the hearing of any such case or matter, it appears to the chairman or such member that the case or matter is of such a nature that it ought to be heard by a bench con- 20 sisting of two members, the case or matter may be transferred by the chairman or, as the case may be, referred io him for transfer to such bench as the chairman may deem fit (5) subject to the other provisions of this act, the benches of the tribunal shall ordinarily sit at new delhi (which shall be known as the principal 25 bench) and at such other places as the central government may, by notification, specify 11, (1) a person shal] not be qualified for appointment as the chairman unless he— (2) is, or has been, a judge of the supreme court or a high 30 court; or (b) has, for at least two years, held the office of vice-chairman (2) a person shall not be qualified for appointment as the vice- chairman unless he— (a) is, or has been, a judge of a high court; or 35 (b) has, for at least two years, held the post of a secreiary to the government of india or any other post under the central or a state government carrying a scale of pay which is not less than that of a secretary to the government of india; or (c) (i) has, for at least five years, held the post of an additional 40 secretary to the government of india or any other post under the central or a state government carrying a scale of pay which is not less than that of an additional secretary to the government of india; and (ii) has adequate knowledge of, or experience in, legal, adminis- 45 trative, scientific or technical aspects of the problems relating to environment; or (d) has, for at jeast three years, held office as a judicial member or a technical member qualifications for appointment as chairman, vice- chairman or other member(3) a person shall not be auettied for appoint as a judicial ! member unless he— ; (a) is, or has been, or is qualified to be, a judge of a high court; or a (6) has been a member of the indian legal service and has he'd 35 a post in grade i of that service for at least three years, (4) a person shall not be qualified for appointment as a technical member unless he has adequate knowledge of, or experience in, or capacity to deal with, administrative, scientific or technical aspects of _ the problems relating to environment 10 (5) subject to the provisions of sub-sections (6) and (7), the chuirman, vice-chairman and every other member of the tribunal shall be appointed by the president, (6) no appointment of a person possessing the qualifications specified ' in this section as the chairman or the vice-chairman shall be made 15 except after consultation with the chief justice of india (7) no appointment of a person as a judicial member or a technical member shall be made except on the recommendation of a selection committee appointed by the central government consisting of the | following, namely: - 20 (a), chairman of the tribunal; -——chairman of the committee (b) secretary to the govern- —member ex officio; ment of india in the ministry of environment and forests; 25 (c) secretary to the govern- -—member ez officio, ment of india in the ministry of law, justice and company affairs (department of legal affairs); (d) director-general, council —member ex officio, 30 of scientific and industrial research; (e) an environmentalist to be —member nominated by the central goyernment, vice- chairman to acts as chairman 12- (1) in the event of the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the chairman by reason of his death, resignation or otherwise, the vice- chairman or, as the case may be, such one of the vice-chairmen, as the central government may, by notification, authorise in this behalf, shall act as the chairman until the date on which a new chairman, appointed 40 in accordance with the provisions of this act to fill such vacancy, enters upon his office ; or to discharge his func tions (2) when the chairman is unable to discharge his functions owing in certain circumstan-~ ces, to absence, illness of any other cause, the vice-chairman or, as the case _ may be, such one of the vice-chairmen, as the central government may, 45 by notification, authorise in this behalf, shall discharge the functions of the chairman until the date on which the chairman resumes his dutiesex officio; 35 413 the chairman, vice-chairman and other member shall hold office term of as such for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon office his office, but shall be eligible for re-appointment for another term of five years: ; 5 provided that no chairman, vice-chairman or other member shail hold office as such after he has attained, - (a) in the case of the chairman, the age of seventy years; (b) in the case of the vice-chairman, the age of sixty-five years; and 10 - (c) in the case of any other member, the age of sixty-two years 14, (1) the chairman, vice-chairman or other member may, by resignanotice in writing under his hand addressed to the president, resign his tion and office: removal provided that the chairman, vice-chairman or other member shall, 15 unless he is permitted by the president to relinquish his office sooner, continue to hold office until the expiry of three months from the date of receipt of such notice or until a person duly appointed as his successor enters upon his office or until the expiry of his term of office, whichever is the earliest 20 + (2) the chairman, vice-chairman or any other member shall not be removed from his office except by an order made by the president on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity after an inquiry made by a judge of the supreme court in which such chairman, vice-chairman or other member had been informed of the charges against him and 95 given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges (3) the central government may, by rules, regulate the procedure for the investigation of misbehaviour or incapacity of the chairman vice-chairman or other member referred to in sub-section (2) 15 the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and salaries conditions of service (including pension, gratuity and other retirement oe benefits) of, the chairman, vice-chairman and other member shall be eae such as may be prescribed: sei 3 oth provided that neither the salary and allowances nor the other terms hi a and conditions of service of the chairman, vice-chairman or other and 35 member shall be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment, condi- 16 on ceasing to hold office,— provi- sei sion as (a) the chairman of the tribunal shall be ineligible for further ;, the employment either under the government of india or under the holding of offices government of a state;tions of service of chairman, vice- chairman and other members (b) the vice-chairman of the tribunal shall, subject to the other provisions of this act, be eligible for appointment as the chairman of the tribunal, but not for any other employment either under the government of india or under the government of a state; by chairman, etc, on ceasing to be such chairman, ete (¢) a member (other than the chairman or vice-chairman) of 5 the tribunal shall, subject to the other provisions of this act, be eligible for appointment as the chairman or vice-chairman of the tribunal or ag the chairman, vice-chairman or member of any other tribunal, but not for any other employment either under "e the government of india or under the government of a state; 10 (d) the chairman, vice-chairman or other member shall not appear, act or plead before the tribunal explanation—f or the purposes of this section, employment under the government of india or under the government of a state includes employment under any local or other authority within the territory of india 15 or under the control of the government of india or under any corporation or society owned or controlled by the government finan- 17, the chairman shall exercise such financial and administrative powers over the benches as may be vested in him under the rules: cial and administrative powers of chairman, provided that the chairman shall have authority to delegate such of 29 his financial and administrative powers as he may think fit to the vice- chairman or any other officer of the tribunal, subject to the condition, that the vice-chairman or such officer shall, while exercising such delegated powers, continue to act under the direction, control and supervision of the chairman, 25 staff of the tribunal 18 (1) the central government shall determine the nature and cutegorivs of the officers and other employees required to assist the tribunal in the discharge of its functions and provide the tribunal with such officers and other employees as it may think fit (2) the officers and other employees of the tribunal shall discharge 39 their functions under the general superintendence of the chairman ) ' : 4  (3) the salaries and allowances and conditions of service of the officers and other employee of the tribunal shall be such as may be prescribed 19 (1) where any benches of the tribunal are constituted, the cen- 35 tral government may, from time to time, by notification, make provisions distribution of business amongst as to the distribution of the business of the tribunal amongst the benches and specify the matters which may be dealt with by each bench benches (2) if any question arises as to whether any matter falls within the purview of the business allocated to a bench, the decision of the chair- 40 man shall be final explanation—for the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that the expression "matters" inludes applications for interim relief,  jurisdiction and proceedings of the tribunal20 on and from the commencement of this act, no court or other authority except the tribunal shall have, or be entitled to exercise, any jurisdiction, powers or authority to entertain any application or action for any claim for compensation which may be entertained or dealt with by the tribunal, _ 21 on the application of any of the parties and after notice to the parties, and after hearing such of them as he may desire to be heard, or jp 09 his own motion without such notice, the chairman may transfer any case pending before one bench, for disposal, to any other bench, 22 if the members of a bench differ in opinion on any point, the point shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority, if there is a majority, but if the members are equally divided, they shall state 15 the point or points on which they differ, and make a reference to the chairman who shall either hear the point or points himself or refer the case for hearing on such point or points by one or more of the other members and such point or points shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority of the members who have heard the case 4) including those who first heard it 23 (1) where any amount of compensation is ordered to be paid under any award by the tribunal on the ground of any damage to environment, that amount shall be remitted to the authority specified under subsection (3) of section 7a of the public liability insurance act, 1991 for 45 being credited to the environmental relief fund established under that section (2) the amount of compensation credited to the environmental relief fund under sub-section (1) may be utilised by such person or authority in such manner and for such purposes of environment as may 0 be prescribed 24 (1) an award made by the tribunal under this act shall be executable by the tribunal as a decree of civil court and for this purpose, the tribunal shall have all the powers of a civil court (2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the 4 tribunal may transmit to the collector having jurisdiction over the area in which the accident has occurred the copy of the order made by it for payment of relief as provided in the public liability insurance act 1991 and the collector shall execute the order in the same manner as if it were an order made by him under that act, 9 (3) where the owner against whom the award or order is made by the tribunal fails to make the payment or deposit the amount as directed by the tribunal within the period specified in the award or order, such 'amount shall be recoverable from the owner as arrears of land revenue or of public demand, | bar      | of     ||----------|--------|| juris-   |        || diction, |        || power    |        || of       | chair- || man      | to     || transfer |        || cases    |        || from     | one    || bench    |        || to       | an-    || other   |        || decision |        || te       | be     || taken    |        || by       | ma-    || jority  |        || deposit  | n,     || amount   |        || payable  |        || for      | r      || damage   | to     || environ- |        || ment    |        |appeals, 25 (1) save as provided in sub-section (2) and notwithstanding anything contained in the code of civil procedure, 1908 or-in any other law, an appeal shall lie against any award or other order, not being an interlocutory order, of the tribunal to the supreme court on one or more of the grounds specified in section 100 of that code , (2) no appeal shall lie against an award or other order made by the tribunal with the consent of the parties, (3) every appeal under this section shall be preferred within a period of ninety days from the date of the award or other order appealed against: provided that no appeal by the person who is required to pay any amount in terms of such award shall be entertained by the supreme court unless he has deposited with it the amount so awarded in the manner directed by the supreme court: 7 preme court may entertain the appeal 15 od of ninety days, if it is satisfied that provided further that the su after the expiry of the said peri the appellant was prevented b appeal in time y sufficient cause from preferring the a  miscellaneouspenalty for failure 26, whoever fails to compl he shall be punishable with im to three years, or with fine y with any order made by the tribunal, h prisonment for_a term which may extend which may extend to ten lakh rupees or with both to comply with orders of tribunal, 27, (1) where any offence under this act has been committed by 95 offences by companies, _ 4 conipany, every person who, at the time was directly in charge of, and was responsib conduct of the business of the company, deemed to be suilty of the offence and against and punished accordingly: sub-section shall render any punishment provided in this act, if he committed without his knowledge or that he _ provided that nothing contained in this any such person liable to proves that the offence was exercised all due diligence t © prevent the commission of such offence,the offence was 'committed, - le to, the company for the as well as the company, shall be shall be liable to be proceeded secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offience and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly explanation—for the purposes of this section, - ae | , (a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and (b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm, 28, all proceedings before the tribunal shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193, 219 and 228 of the indian penal code : , 10 29 the chairman, vice-chairman and other members and the officers and other employees of the tribunal shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21 of the indian penal code 30, no suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against r the central government or against the chairman, vice-chairman or 15 other member of the tribunal or any other person authorised by the 'chairman, vice-chairman or other member for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this act or any rule or order made thereunder  31, save as provided in the public liability insurance act, 1991, the 20 provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this act | 32 (1) the central government may, by notification, make rules 25 for carrying out the purposes of this act (2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rulés may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: - (a) the particulars which an application shall contain, the documents and the fee which shall be accompanied with it and the limit of annual income of a person so as to enable him to make application without paying any fee, under sub-section (4) of section 5; (b) any such matter in respect of which the tribunal shall have powers of a civil court, under clause (i) of sub-section (4) of section 6; ' (c) the case or cases which, having regard to the nature of the questions involved, requires or require to be decided by a bench of more than two members, under clause (d) of sub-section (3) of section 10; proceedings before the tri- 'bunal to be judicial proceedings members and staff of tribunal to be public servants, protection of action taken in good faith ia act to have overriding effect, power to make rules(d) procedure for the investigation of misbehaviour or incap: city of the chairman, vice-chairman or other 'menaber of the tribuna under sub-section (3) of section 14; (€) the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other tet mis and conditions of service of, the chairman, wice-chairman, and , other members under section 15; (j) financial and administrative powers of the chairman over the benches under section 17; , (9) the salaries and allowances and conditions of service of the officers and other employees of the tribunal under sub-section (3) of section 18; (h) the person or the authority by whom, the manner in which and the purposes of environment for which the amount of compensation credited to the environmental relief fund shall be utilised under sub-section (2) of section 23; and (') any other matter which is required to be, or may be, pres: cribed on 4 and every rule ma de(3) every notification issued under secti under other provisions of this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one segs or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of session immediately following the session or the successive ses aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the noti tion or the rule or both houses agree that the notification or the rule should not be made, the notification or the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that notification or the rule  the schedule[see section 3(1)] 7 nape under which compensation for damages may be claimed  @) death; (b) permanent, temporary, total or partial disability or other injury or sickness; (c) loss of wages due to total or partial disability or permanent or temporary disability; (d) medical expenses incurred for treatment of injuries or sickness; (e) damages to private property; (fj) expenses incurred by the government or any local authority in providing relief, aid and rehabilitation to the affected persons; (g) expenses incurred by government for any administrative - or legal action or te cope with any harm or damage, including compensation for environmental degradation and restoration of the quality of environment; ; " (h) loss to government or local authority arising out of, or connected with, the activity causing any damage; (t) claims on account of any harm, damage or destruction to the fauna including milch and draught animals and aquatic fauna; (j) claims on account of any harm, damage or destruction to flora including aquatic flora, crops vegetables, trees and orchards; (k) claims including cost of restoration on account of any harm or damage to environment including pollution of soil, air, water, land and eco-systems; (1) loss and destruction of any property other than private property; (m) loss of business or employment or both; (n) any other claim arising out of, or connected with, any activity of handling of hazardous substance  statement of objects and reasonsthe activities involving hazardous substances has been highlighted in a case by the supreme court of india an enterprise engaged in activities with potentia] threat to the health and safety of the persons residing compensation for damages to human health, property and the environment, particularly contamination of sub-surface water, are increasing there is also an increasing trend in the number of industrial disasters, 2 the united nations conference on environment and development held at rio de j aneiro in june, 1992, in which india participated, has also compensation for the victims of pollution and other environmental damage ; : 3 it is deemed expedient to develop and codify the principle of strict civil liability in respect of all such cases where damage ig caused while handling hazardous substances it is proposed to establish a national environmental tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases arising from certain industrial accidents and disasters with a view to providing effective and expeditious relief and compensation for damages to human health, property and the environment, ~ 4 the bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objects new deihi:; the 5th august, 1992, , kamal nath  president's recommendation under article 117 of the constitution of india[copy of letter no 8/6/91/pl(cpw), dated 6th august, 1992 from shri kamal nath, minister of state of the ministry of environment and forests to the secretary-general, lok sabha] the president, having been informed of the proposed bil} to provide for notes on clausesclause 3 provides for strict liability of owner for damages caused to any person, property or the environment due to any accident occurring while handling any hazardous substance clause 4 confers power on the central government to exempt from the operation of the act, the central government, any state government, ied corporation owned or controlled by government, or any local authority clause 5 provides for making an application for claim for compensation under this act or for relief as provided in the public liability insurance act, 1991 it also specifies five years as the limitation period _ clause, 6 provides procedure and powers of the tribunal which shail be guided by the principles of natural justice and shall have certain powers of a civil court clause 7 empowers the tribunal to make an interim order and provides for its procedure clause 8 provides for the amount of any relief or other compensation received by any person under any other law to be reduced from the compensation awarded under this act clause 9 provides for the establishment of a national environment 'tribunal clause 10 provides for the composition of the 'tribunal and its benches and also empowers the chairman of the tribunal to function as 'member on any bench, to transfer the vice-chairman or other member from one bench to another bench, to authorise a member to discharge functions on another bench, and to form benches, it also empowers the central government to notify places other than delhi where the benches shall sit clause 11 lays down qualifications for appointment of a person as chairman or vice-chairman or member of the tribunal all appointments shall be made by the president, the chairman and vice-chairman shall be appointed after consultation with the chief justice of india and members shall be appointed on the recommendation of a selection 'committee as specified in sub-clause (7) clause 12 provides for appointment of vice-chairman as chairman by the government in the event of any vacancy and the authorising 'of vice-chairman in cases of absence of chairman, clause 13 specifies five years as the term of appointment and 70 years, 65 years and 62 years as the age of retirement of chairman, vice- chairman and other members, respectively clause 14 provides for the resignation by, and removal of, chairaan; vice-chairman or other members of the tribunal removal may e place on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity after n inquiry by a judge of the supreme courtclause 15 empowers the central government to prescribe by rules' the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service chairman, vice-chairman and other members clause 16 prohibits further employment under the central or state government for chairman or vice-chairman or other members, they cannot also appear, act or plead before the tribunal clause 17 provides for financia] and administrative powers of the chairman of the tribunal as may be prescribed in the rules, he may also delegate such powers clause 18 requires the central government to provide officers and staff to the tribunal their salaries, allowances and conditions of service shall be prescribed in the rules clause 19 empowers the central government to make provisions, by notification, for distribution of business amongst benches in case of doubt, decision of chairman shall be final, authorities n any application or action fo clause 20 bars the jurisdiction of courts and other where the tribunal has powers to entertai claim clause 21 empowers chairman to transfer cases from one bench to another bench clause 22 provides for decisio n in a case by majority of members of the bench clause 23 provides for the dep osit and utilisation of amount payable for damage to the environment clause 24 empowers the tribunal to execute its award as a decree of civil court and also to transmit an order of interim relief to - the collector for execution amount of award may also be recovered as arrears of land revenue or of public demand ' clause 25 provides for appeal to supreme court within 90 days on & question of law and after deposit of the money awarded and prohibits any appeal where award is given with the consent of parties, clause 26 provides for punishmen t if any person fails to comply with any order of the tribunal ? clause 27 provides for liability of the directors, managers, etc, of  company where an offence is committed by it, clause 28 provides that the proceedings before the tribunal shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings, j clause 29 provides that the chairman, vice-chairman and member: ef the tribunal shall be deemed to be public servants clause 30 provides protection for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under the act or the rules = clause 31 provides that this act shall have overriding effect clause 32 confers power on the central government to make to carry out the purposes of this act, §  financial memorandumclause 9 of the bill relates to the establishment of a national environment tribunal under sub-clause (5) of clause 10, benches of the tribunal may si{ also at such places, other than delhi as the central government may, by notification, specify expenditure on setting up of one bench is estimated at rs 15 lakhs approximately non-recurring expenditure on four benches, which the government intends to set up for the time being, is estimated at rs 182 lakhs and recurring annual expenditure at rs 426 lakhs  memorandum regarding delegated legislation> clause 4 of the bill seeks to empower the central government to exen by notification, from the operation of the act the central government, state goyernmeni, any corporation owned or controlled by any governn or apy local authority, 2 clause 32 empowers the central government to make rules reg 'ding— =f (a) the particulars which an application shall centain, the doc ne and the fee which shail be accompanied with it and the limit of an income cf a person so as to enable him to make application without ing any fee, under sub-section (4) of section 5; (b) any such other matter in respect of which the tribunal shall have powets of a civil court, under clause (i) of sub-section (4) of section (c) the cuse or cases which, having regard to the nature of - questions involved, requires or require to be decided by a bench of than two members, under cijause (d) of sub-section (3) of section 105 (d) procedure for the investigation of misbehaviour or incapacity of the chairman, vice-chairman or other member of the tribunal sub-section (3) of section 14; (e) the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms conditions of service of, the chairman, vice-chairman and other \ om: bers under section 15; ({) financial and administrative powers of the chairman over | benches under section 17: (g) the salaries and allowances and conditions of service of the offi and other employees of the tribunal under sub-section (3) of section 18; (h) the person or the authority: by whom, the manner in which end the purposes of environment for which the amount of compensation er ed to the environmental relief fund shall be utilised under subsection (2) of section 23; and (i) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed, 7 3 the matters with respect to which notification may be issued or may be made under the aforesaid provisions are matters of procedure and d the delegation of legisiative power contained in such provisions is, theref of a normal character 