Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta heads National Green Tribunal
19 Oct 2010
The government today officially launched the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta taking charge as its chairperson today.
The National Green Tribunal, established by an Act of Parliament (the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010), is exclusively dedicated to environmental issues.
The NGT will replace the erstwhile National Environment Appellate Authority and all its functions will be transferred to NGT.
The tribunal will have circuit benches across the country to try all matters related to and arising out of environmental issues.
The tribunal, which will have experts in the field of environment and related sciences as members, has been empowered to issue directions for the compensation and restitution of damage caused from actions of environmental negligence.
The setting up of the tribunal will help to achieve sustainable development through application of the polluter pays principle to environmental issues, an official release said.