ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN INDIA: ASSESSING THE ADJUDICATORY ROLE OF THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL

Abstract

India has a long history of valuing its natural resources, and a comparably longstanding commitment to justice as a constitutional value. The intermingling of the two, environmental justice as a distinct legal concept, is comparatively recent, arising from the tension between unplanned development and ecological preservation. The establishment of the National Green Tribunal by Act of Parliament in 2010 marked a decisive institutional step in this direction. This paper examines the concept of environmental justice, traces its origins in both comparative and Indian movements, and analyses the National Green Tribunal's adjudicatory record across a decade and a half of operation. It reviews the Tribunal's statutory powers, its treatment of major disputes involving industrial hazard, illegal mining, coastal degradation and river pollution, and its evolving use of suo motu jurisdiction and digital case management. The paper argues that while the Tribunal has become an indispensable, accessible forum for environmental redress, its statutory design, in particular its persistent shortfall of sanctioned members, its exclusion from wildlife and forest rights legislation, and the absence of a dedicated enforcement mechanism, continues to limit its effectiveness, and it proposes targeted legislative and administrative reforms to address these constraints.