Plea before Delhi High Court against "exorbitant court fee" for filing petitions before NGT

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to the Central government and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on a plea challenging the "exorbitant fee" charged for filing petitions before the NGT.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal sought the response of the government and tribunal and posted the case for further consideration on July 24.

The petition before the High Court was filed by environmental activist Ajay Dubey, challenging Rule 12(2) of NGT (Practice and Procedure) Rules, 2011, which mandates a ₹1,000 fee for filing applications or appeals, and Rule 12(2A), introduced in 2016, which imposes ₹500 for each miscellaneous application regardless of its nature.

Additionally, Dubey has also challenged an NGT office order dated September 18, 2019, requiring printing charges of ₹100 per 25 pages even for online filings.

Dubey argued that these cumulative costs are “astronomical” and deter citizens from pursuing public interest environmental cases before NGT.

In a recent matter concerning a coal mining project in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district, he claims to have paid approximately ₹8,200 in filing and procedural fees at the initial stage alone.

According to the petitioner, environmental protection is constitutionally embedded under Articles 21, 48A, and 51A(g) and imposing high fees undermines both fundamental rights and duties.

Advocates Siddharth R Gupta, ⁠Mrigank Prabhakar, ⁠⁠Aman Agarwal, Shantanu Sharma, Surbhi Saxena ,⁠⁠Uddaish Palya and ⁠⁠Astha Singh appeared for the petitioner.