 bill no 194 of  2017 the national green tribunal (amendment) bill, 2017 by adv joice george, mp a billfurther to amend the national green tribunal act, 2010be  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the national green tribunal (amendment) act, 2017short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appoint5amendment of section 519 of 20102 in section 5 of the national green tribunal act, 2010, (hereinafter referred to as the principal act),—(a) in sub-section (1), for the words, " or has been, a judge of the supreme court of india or chief justice of a high court", the words "qualified to be appointed as a judge of the supreme court or a high court" shall be substituted; and(b) in the proviso to sub-section (1), for the words " or has been a judge of the high court", the words" qualified to be appointed as a judge of the high court" shall be substituted53 in section 7 of the principal act,—amendment to section 7(a) for the words "five years", the words "three years" shall be substituted;and(b) for the existing proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:—10"provided that the chairperson or, judicial member or expert member of the tribunal shall not hold office after he has attained the age of sixty five years" 4 in section 10 of the principal act,—amendment to section 1015(a) in sub-section (2) for the words "judge of the supreme court", the words"committee consisting of a judge of the supreme court, two independent members nominated by the central government in consultation with the chief justice of india and the leader of the opposition or the leader of the largest opposition party in the house of the people, "shall be substituted; and(b) in sub-section (3), for the words "judge of the supreme court" occurring at both the places, the word "committee" shall be substituted205 for section 22 of the principal act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:-substitution of new section for section 22appeal"22 any person aggrieved by any award, decision or order of the tribunal, may, file an appeal to the high court having local jurisdiction, within ninety days from the date of communication of the award, decision or order of tribunal to him:25provided that the high court may entertain any appeal after the expiry of ninety days, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring the appeal" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe national green tribunal act, 2010 has been enacted with the objectives of providing effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings including, redress and remedy, and to develop national laws regarding liability and compensation for the victims of pollution and other environmental damages the act has been brought on the basis of the recommendation of the law commission of india for the setting up of environmental courts having original and appeal jurisdiction relating to environmental law but as per the provision of the act, the post of chairperson and judicial members are only reserved for the retired judges of the supreme court and the chief justices of the high courts now the national green tribunal (ngt) has become a rehabilitation centre for the retired judges of the supreme court and high courts which is affecting the efficacy of the ngt therefore, it is necessary to amend the law to bring persons having competency and impeccable integrity with sound knowledge in law as the chairperson and judicial members of the ngt though the stated objective is to provide effective access to judicial remedies, by section 22 of the act, the appeal remedy against the award, decision or order of the tribunal is confined to the supreme court it is well known that the supreme court is not accessible to the people at large especially the victims of environmental issues and the activities of certain groups having vested interests trying to implement environmental colonialism in our land to the disadvantage of the poor farmers, marginalized farm labours, tribals and other vulnerable group further the civil courts are barred from entertaining any appeal or application in respect of any matter, which the tribunal is empowered to determine under its appeal jurisdiction and the tribunal having jurisdiction to settle disputes or entertain any question relating to any claim for granting any relief or compensation, etc, respectively therefore, in effect the appeal remedy is almost denied to the affected parties against the order of ngtthe bill, therefore seeks to amend the national green tribunal act, 2010 with a view to—(a) restrict the appointment of retired judges of supreme court or the chief justice of a high court as chairperson and judicial member, respectively of the national green tribunal;(b) limit the age of retirement of chairperson and other judicial member of the national green tribunal to sixty-five years; and(c) provide the right to appeal against the award, decision or order of the national green tribunal to the high court having local jurisdictionhence this bill annexure extract from the national green tribunal act, 2010 (19 of 2010) 5 (1) a person shall not be qualified for appointment as the chairperson or judicial member of the tribunal unless he is, or has been, a judge of the supreme court of india or chief justice of a high court;provided that a person who is or has been a judge of the high court shall also be qualified to be appointed as a judicial memberqualifications for appointment of chairperson, judicial member and expert member 7 the chairperson, judicial member and expert member of the tribunal shall hold office as such for a term of five years from the date on which they enter upon their office, but shall not be eligible for re-appointment:term of office and other conditions of service of chairperson, judicial member and expert memberprovided that in case a person, who is or has been a judge of the supreme court, has been appointed as chairperson or judicial member of the tribunal, he shall not hold office after he has attained the age of seventy years:provided further that in case a person, who is or has been the chief justice of a high court, has been appointed as chairperson or judicial member of the tribunal, he shall not hold office after he has attained the age of sixty-seven years:provided also that in case a person, who is or has been a judge of a high court, has been appointed as judicial member of the tribunal, he shall not hold office after he has attained the age of sixty-seven years:provided also that no expert member shall hold office after he has attained the age of sixty-five years10 (1)     removal and suspension of chairperson, judicial member and expert member(2) the chairperson or judicial member shall not be removed from his office except by an order made by the central government after an inquiry made by a judge of the supreme court in which such chairperson or judicial member has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges(3) the cenntral government may suspend from office the chairperson or judicial member in respect of whom a reference of conducting an inquiry has been made to the judge of the supreme court under sub-section (2) until the central government passes an order on receipt of the report of inquiry made by the judge of the supreme court on such reference    appeal to supreme court22 any person aggrieved by any award, decision or oder of the tribunal, may, file an appeal to the supreme court, within ninety days from the date of communication of the award, decision or order of the tribunal, to him, on any one or more of the grounds specified in section 100 of the code of civil procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908):provided that the supreme court may entertain any appeal after the expiry of ninety days, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from preferring the appeal    ———— a billfurther to amend the national green tribunal act, 2010————(adv joice george, mp)