The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider before September 8 a plea concerning the tenure of members of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), after the NGT Bar Association warned that three zonal benches could become non-functional once the Court's existing extension for tribunal members expires.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. The plea was originally listed for hearing on September 15.

Seeking an earlier hearing, counsel appearing for the NGT Bar Association said the Supreme Court's extension of the tenure of certain tribunal members is due to expire on September 8. He warned that the expiry could cripple the functioning of several NGT benches.

“Now three benches of the NGT, including the Southern Bench and Western Zone Bench, will all have to stop functioning from September 8 because the NGT Act does not allow a single-member Bench. So it will completely cripple them,” counsel submitted.

The Bar Association pointed out that the NGT Act requires benches to have more than one member and, therefore, vacancies arising from the expiry of tenures could leave the affected benches unable to hear cases.

Chief Justice Surya Kant noted that a new legislation- the Tribunal Reforms Act 2026- governing tribunals was now in place. Counsel, however, submitted that the new law would not immediately resolve the problem because the appointment of new members would take time.

“But that cannot happen overnight. It will take some time for the appointments to happen. In the meantime, we cannot have one single Bench of the NGT functioning,” counsel said.

According to the Bar Association, if there is no further extension or fresh appointments by September 8, the affected zonal benches could remain non-functional for several months.

“If this happens, only one Bench at the Principal Seat will function till the new appointments happen, which could be three months, which could be more,” counsel submitted.

He further warned that the situation would effectively force cases pending before the zonal benches to be dealt with by the Principal Bench in Delhi.

“So three zonal benches come to a complete standstill and all matters will have to be heard in Delhi by the Principal Bench,” he said.

Counsel also pointed out that there are currently two benches at the Principal Seat in Delhi, one of which would itself be affected by the expiry of members' tenure. He also referred to the NGT's Southern Bench at Madras.

The Bar Association further drew the Court's attention to Section 24(3) of the new tribunal legislation, which contains a savings provision for appointment processes that are already underway. However, counsel said it was unclear how the provision would operate in the present circumstances and reiterated that new appointments could not be completed immediately.

“September 8 is the last date for three benches,” counsel said, urging the Court to either hear the matter before that date or extend the existing arrangement until the scheduled hearing on September 15.

Responding to the request, Chief Justice Surya Kant said, “Then we may list the matter before September 8.”