Supreme Court pulls up NGT for passing ex-parte orders, says Tribunal has to comply with due process

The Supreme Court recently reiterated the need for the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to adequately hear all parties in a case before passing orders and directions [Veena Gupta and anr vs Central Pollution Control Board and ors]..A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Aravind Kumar stressed that the NGT must operate with procedural integrity, comply with due process of law and avoid any oversight on such aspects"The National Green Tribunal's recurrent engagement in unilateral decision making, provisioning ex post facto review hearing and routinely dismissing it has regrettably become a prevailing norm. In its zealous quest for justice, the Tribunal must tread carefully to avoid the oversight of propriety. The practice of ex parte orders and the imposition of damages amounting to crores of rupees, have proven to be a counterproductive force in the broader mission of environmental safeguarding," the top court observed..The Tribunal has to ensure both justice and due process, the apex court underlined."It is imperative for the Tribunal to infuse a renewed sense of procedural integrity, ensuring that its actions resonate with a harmonious balance between justice and due process. Only then can it reclaim its standing as a beacon of environmental protection, where well-intentioned endeavors are not simply washed away," the Court said..The observations came in a verdict setting aside two ex-parte NGT orders that suo motu held the appellants guilty of pollution and directed them to pay compensation.The appellants were proprietors of a project in Delhi. A Joint Committee had visited the site and held them liable for a worker's death under the Employees Compensation Act. They were found to be operating without statutory consents and safety precautions.The Supreme Court observed that the appellants clearly did not have a full opportunity to contest the matter and place their defence.The top court, thus, quashed the orders and remanded the matter back to the NGT to decide the matter afresh after issuing notice to all the affected parties and hearing them. "We make it clear that this order does not deal with the merits of the matter and the actions of those guilty of statutory and environmental violation will have to be subject to strict scrutiny and legal consequences," the apex court clarified..Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh and advocates Ashish Aggarwal, Tanya Aggarwal, Tatini Basu, Nitipriya Kar and Subodha Pandey appeared for the appellant-project proponents..The NGT has invited the apex court's ire in recent times.Last year, the Court had taken strong exception to the manner in which the tribunal was passing orders based on reports of committees and experts, without actually hearing the parties to the case.It reiterated the same in June that year.In January this year, the Supreme Court criticised the NGT for suggesting that trucks heading to an Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Delhi's Tughlakabad be diverted to ICDs outside the National Capital Region (NCR).In another case that month, it had criticised the tribunal for stalling the implementation of the draft Development Plan 2041 for Shimla by passing stringent directions..[Read Judgment]