Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court on Monday (Sep 1) criticized the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for functioning like a mere rubber stamp by outsourcing its responsibilities to external committees.

A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan heard a case alleging that the Appellant-company was polluting water bodies by discharging untreated effluents. The NGT, blindly relying on a Joint Committee report by the CPCB, UPPCB, and the District Magistrate, found multiple violations illegal disposal of effluents, dilution of discharge, and failure to maintain records. In February 2022, the NGT held the company guilty and, in September 2022, imposed ₹18 crore compensation (2% of turnover). However, the proceedings were challenged as violating natural justice and the Water Act, as samples were improperly collected and tested.

Setting aside the NGT's order, the judgment authored by Justice Bhuyan observed:

“The adjudicatory functions of NGT cannot be assigned to committees, even expert committees. The decisions have to be that of NGT. NGT has been constituted as an expert adjudicatory authority under the statute. The discharge of its functions cannot be obviated by tasking committees to carry out a function which vests in the NGT. Adverting to the facts of that case, this Court held that NGT had abdicated its jurisdiction by entrusting judicial function to an administrative expert committee. An expert committee may be able to assist NGT, for instance, by carrying out a fact finding exercise but the adjudication has to be by NGT.”

“NGT exercises judicial functions. Therefore, it is all the more necessary for the NGT to adhere to a fair procedure which is statutorily laid down of which principles of natural justice are an inalienable part. Rigor of Section 19(1) of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 is qua the procedure to be adopted by the NGT in conducting its proceedings. It cannot be stretched to abandon the statutory procedure laid down under Sections 21 and 22 of the Water Act and by outsourcing investigation to administrative committees by overlooking the statutory provisions and basing its decisions on the recommendation of such administrative committee. This is not within the remit of NGT.”, the court added.

Accordingly, the appeal was allowed.

Cause Title: M/S. TRIVENI ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIES LTD. VERSUS STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH & ORS.

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 863

Click here to read/download the judgment

Appearance:

For Appellant(s) Mr. Kavin Gulati, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv. Mr. Prateek Kumar, Adv. Mr. Arshit Anand, Adv. Ms. Vidisha Swarup, Adv. Mr. Naman Gupta, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR

For Respondent(s) Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR Mr. Pradeep Misra, AOR Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv. Mr. Suraj Singh, Adv.

Related - NGT Cannot Outsource Its Opinion To Committees & Base Its Decision On Such Opinions : Supreme Court