The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Bar Association has moved the Supreme Court seeking urgent intervention to fill up vacancies of judicial and expert members at the principal and zonal benches of NGT.
In a petition, NGT Bar Association of Principal Bench at New Delhi has said that while Section 4(1) of the NGT Act requires at least ten judicial members and ten expert members, the tribunal is currently working with only four judicial members and six expert members against the sanctioned strength of 20 each.
The delay in appointments threatens to bring NGT's judicial and expert functions to a complete standstill due to the impending retirement of several key members, the bar body has contended.
The retirements would make the statutory quorum requirement impossible to meet, it added.
As per the petition,
"Because of the members below the requisite minimum strength, more often the benches are constituted by joining various members sitting at different zonal benches through video conferencing in order to complete the requisite quorum at various benches. However, it causes great inconvenience to the applicants/appellants and the respondents/opposite parties."
The petition has placed reliance on top court's earlier orders in which it had stressed on the essential nature of having an adequate and equal composition for effective adjudication in the tribunals.
It also refers to the orders passed in 2023 and 2025 extending the tenure of judicial and expert Members to maintain continuity.
The plea states that the Union government appointed two judicial members and four expert members on August 2, 2025, but only the four expert members have joined till date.
It adds that Expert Member Dr Afroz Ahmad will retire on November 13, 2025 and Expert Member Dr A Menthol Vel on January 14, 2026.
"NGT is a specialized statutory body established to protect the environment, a fundamental component of the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution. The functioning or efficient functioning of the NGT due to lack of timely appointment of Judicial and Expert Members will not only hamper the progress of the cases relating to important environmental issues, but will cause virtual shutdown of the Tribunal," the plea states.