Being National Green Tribunal, NGT Must Have Alacrity, Concern For Environment: Supreme Court

"Being the 'National Green Tribunal', the NGT must have some alacrity and concern for the environment!", observed Justice D. Y. Chandrachud on Thursday.The bench of Justices Chandrachud and M. R. Shah was considering an appeal arising out of the NGT's adjudication of allegations of failure of authorities in preventing the blowout of Baghjan 5 oil well of the Respondent-Oil India Ltd., resulting in a massive fire causing irreparable loss to the entire biodiversity of the region and loss of lives and property. The issue for consideration in these matters by the NGT was the remedial steps for restoration of the environment and compensation to the victims on account of damage resulting from the incident of oil blowout on May 27, 2020 from the oil well belonging to the OIL which released huge amount of toxic gases and, other consequential events, including fire incident June 9, 2020 that followed, at Baghjan in Tinsukia District of Assam."The NGT, by its order of June 24, 2020, had set up a committee of experts, following damage and destruction to the Dibru Saikhowa forest reserve due to blowout from Baghjan 5 Oil well in May, 2020, to look into extent of the damage and responsibilities of the OIL...Subsequently, on February 19, 2021, the NGT has constituted a six-member committee to fix responsibilities for failure of the concerned individuals in the present incident, a seven-member committee to look into non-compliance with statutory provisions, and a ten-member committee to assess the damage to the environment which is to comprise the Managing Director, OIL Ltd.", noted the bench on Thursday."We are surprised by this order of the NGT. It is the OIL Ltd. which is responsible for the damage to the wetlands and its own Managing Director has been inducted into the committee?!", Justice Chandrachud had observed at the outset."We are very dissatisfied with the manner the NGT has pushed the matter off its hands. It is the National Green Tribunal, it must have some alacrity and concern for the environment. We might decide it ourselves. We will hear you and reconstitute the committee- One Committee, which may be headed by a former Supreme Court judge and would comprise environmental experts. We will do that exercise here only", said the judge to the Senior Advocate for the petitioner. "And after the report of the first committee, three committees have been set up separately! What is this?", pointed out Justice Shah.The bench also agreed with the petitioner's submission that the Committees so constituted are stuffed with bureaucrats and comprise hardly any experts.The bench summarised the grievance of the SLP petitioner as 2-fold- one, that the first committee had filed a comprehensive report before NGT and the constitution of new committees will only delay the issue, and two, the 10-member committee for assessing the damage to the environment and remedial restoration plan includes the MD of the OIL, which "amounts to being a judge in their own cause" and a violation of the basic principles of natural justice.The bench stayed the February 19 order of the NGT, whereby, after considering the reports of the first Committee, the objections of the OIL and the submissions of the applicants, the Tribunal passed a lengthy direction to address the following aspects: (a) Compensation to the victims of the incidents for the damage to the houses, trauma, loss of earning and health cost incurred etc; (b) Accountability for the failure of OIL to follow safety protocols in preventing the incident and remedial steps to prevent such incidents in future; (c) Accountability for non-compliance of statutory norms under the Water, Air and Environment laws and remedial action; (d)Assessment of damage to the Environment and restoration measures, including measures for restoration of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and the Maguri-Motapung Wetland.The bench also issued notice on the appeal to the OIL Ltd., MoEF and Ministry of Petroleum.On June 24, 2020, while issuing notice to the OIL, the Tribunal constituted eight-member Committee headed by a former Judge of Gauhati High Court to ascertain the cause of the incident, persons responsible for the incident and for the failure to prevent the same, extent of damage to the human life, wildlife, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (DSNP), the Maguri-Motapung Wetland (MMW), assessment of proposed compensation to the victims and for restitution of the property and the environment, remedial measures, including steps to prevent recurrence. The NGT also directed Government-owned Oil India Limited (OIL), to deposit a sum of Rs. 25 Crores with the District Magistrate, Tinsukia District, Assam, in connection to a massive fire which exploded from OIL's Baghjan well.Subsequently, the bench of Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel deferred the direction till the actual amount and disbursement plan is formulated by the eight member committee appointed by the Tribunal.On February 19 this year, after perusing the...

Being National Green Tribunal, NGT Must Have Alacrity, Concern For Environment: Supreme Court

Mehal Jain

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