Insights
Notable orders / judgments by Supreme Court, High Courts and NGT
August 8, 2022The Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”) has set aside the order passed by a single member bench of the National Green Tribunal (“NGT”), which had dismissed an appeal challenging the environmental clearance (“EC”) issued to Ultratech Cement Ltd. in 2017. The Supreme Court noted that as per the
provisions of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (“NGT Act”), a single-member bench cannot be constituted to adjudicate on matters covered under the NGT Act. The single-member bench could not have passed an order in view of the proviso to Section 4(4)(c) of the NGT Act which states that the
number of expert members hearing the appeal or application shall be equal to the number of the judicial members, mandating that there shall be at least two members on the bench. Accordingly, the assumption of jurisdiction by a single-member bench stands vitiated.
