National Green Tribunal must make public report of panel that reviewed approvals for Nicobar project: Jairam Ramesh
A request was made for the National Green Tribunal to make public the report of the expert panel that reviewed environmental clearance approvals for the Great Nicobar Island infrastructure project.
Separately, the Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2026 has been listed for discussion in the Lok Sabha, seeking to give legislative effect to Supreme Court directions on tribunal appointments and independence.
The Bill proposes establishing a National Tribunals Commission to oversee appointments, tenure, and service conditions across India's tribunals, including the National Green Tribunal.
The legislative move follows a November 2025 Supreme Court judgment that struck down key appointment- and tenure-related provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 for undermining judicial independence and the separation of powers.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) — Composition and Powers
The NGT is a specialised statutory body for the expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection, distinct from ordinary civil courts, and applies specific environmental law principles rather than general procedural codes.
Key Details
- Constituted under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, replacing the earlier National Environment Appellate Authority; hears civil cases involving a substantial question relating to environment arising under specified enactments, including the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, Environment (Protection) Act 1986, Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, and Biological Diversity Act 2002
- Composed of a full-time Chairperson (a retired Chief Justice of India or a retired Supreme Court/High Court judge), along with Judicial Members and Expert Members (between 10 and 20 each), appointed by the Central Government
- Applies the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle, and the polluter pays principle while adjudicating
- Has five sitting places — New Delhi as the principal seat, with Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata, and Chennai as the other four — and is mandated to dispose of applications and appeals within six months of filing
The composition and appointment process for NGT Chairperson and Members is precisely what the proposed National Tribunals Commission would take over, following the Supreme Court's directions.
Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (2025) and Tribunal Independence
This case is the latest in a series of Supreme Court rulings safeguarding tribunal independence from executive control over appointments and tenure, and directly triggered the current legislative move.
Key Details
- An earlier Madras Bar Association ruling (2021) had already struck down a short four-year tenure and other executive-heavy appointment provisions as undermining judicial independence
- In its November 2025 judgment, the Supreme Court struck down analogous provisions reintroduced through the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 — including a four-year tenure and a 50-year minimum age requirement for tribunal members — again holding them to violate the separation of powers and judicial independence
- The Court directed the Union Government to establish a National Tribunals Commission within four months of the judgment, restoring safeguards on independence, transparent appointment processes, and oversight that it had laid down in earlier rulings in the same line of cases
The Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2026 tabled in the Lok Sabha is the legislative vehicle intended to create this Commission and implement the Court's directions across India's tribunals, including the NGT.
Environmental Clearance Process — EIA Notification 2006 and CRZ Notification 2019
Large infrastructure projects in ecologically sensitive coastal areas, such as the Great Nicobar project, require clearance under two overlapping regulatory frameworks, both of which were at issue in the NGT's review.
Key Details
- Under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, projects are categorised as Category A (requiring Union-level clearance through the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and its Expert Appraisal Committee) or Category B (state-level clearance); large port, airport, and township components of an infrastructure project of this scale fall under Category A
- The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2019 classifies coastal areas into CRZ-I (further split into CRZ-IA, ecologically sensitive areas, and CRZ-IB), CRZ-II, CRZ-III, and CRZ-IV
- CRZ-IA covers ecologically sensitive features such as mangroves, coral reefs, sand dunes, biologically active mudflats, and turtle nesting grounds; new construction is generally prohibited in CRZ-IA, with narrow exceptions such as eco-tourism facilities
- The NGT, while hearing a challenge to the project's environmental clearance, can direct that an expert committee review specific deficiencies in the underlying assessment, as occurred in this case
The call for disclosure concerns the report of exactly such an expert review committee constituted at the NGT's direction, testing how the post-clearance review mechanism functions and what CRZ/EIA thresholds were under scrutiny.
- NGT Act, 2010: full-time Chairperson plus 10–20 Judicial Members and 10–20 Expert Members; five benches (New Delhi — principal, Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai); mandated 6-month disposal timeline
- Madras Bar Association v. Union of India (November 2025): struck down the four-year tenure and 50-year minimum age provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021; directed the Union to establish a National Tribunals Commission within four months
- CRZ-IA: no new construction permitted (narrow exceptions such as eco-tourism); covers mangrove patches over 1,000 sq. m (with a 50-metre buffer), coral reefs, sand dunes, and turtle nesting grounds
- EIA Notification, 2006: Category A projects require Union-level environmental clearance via the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
- Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2026: proposes a National Tribunals Commission overseeing appointments and service conditions across a large number of tribunals, including the NGT