Impact of Regulatory Policies of

Government
The National Green Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal has been established on 18/10/2010 under the National Green
Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental
protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of
any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to
persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It is a
specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes
involving multi-disciplinary issues. The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid
down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural
justice.
The Tribunal's dedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters shall provide speedy
environmental justice and help reduce the burden of litigation in the higher courts. The
Tribunal is mandated to make and endeavor for disposal of applications or appeals finally
within 6 months of filing of the same. Initially, the NGT is proposed to be set up at five
places of sittings and will follow circuit procedure for making itself more accessible. New
Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai
shall be the other four place of sitting of the Tribunal.

BGS Synergy
The National Green Tribunal was established as a special fast-track quasi-judicial body
comprising of judges and environment experts who will ensure expeditious disposal of cases.
The National Green Tribunal has given fast-track judgements in a lot of cases ensuring that
the purpose of its establishment is satisfied.
On one hand the National Green Tribunal gives fast-track judgements and on the other hand
the Tribunal deals with cases extensively when required. The NGT fulfils it purpose of
stopping environmental violations very well, for example following a PIL, National Green
Tribunal has passed an order to curb noise pollution in Delhi, outlining actions that include
making noise pollution a compoundable offence. The tribunal has asked traffic cops to act
against polluting vehicles. The National Green Tribunal also suspended the environmental
clearance granted to Poscos mega steel project in Orissa in January 2011.Therefore, the
establishment of NGT will benefit India to a great extent.
However, some environmental clearance are of such a grave nature that giving a judgement
on them in 6 months would lead to grave injustice like the Lavasa case. Section 14 of the
Act says, the Tribunal shall have jurisdiction over all civil cases where a substantial question
relating to environment. The usage of word substantial is very subjective. It will vary
from person to person to define what is substantial with respect to environmental degradation.
There is no tangible method by which the gravity of the damage to environment and public
health can be measured in general.

National Green Tribunal is thus a new beginning for India's struggle between development
and environment. Despite some inherent flaws, NGT is a significant initiative by the
Government and the rightful implementation of the law would certainly usher the country
towards the path of Sustainable Development and guarantee a harmonious relationship
between the environment and society. But the important question is will the NGT in current
format serve the purpose its meant to be? As of now, the place of sitting is Delhi, which
means people from different parts of the country would have to come to Delhi to file their
cases which they could have easily filed in civil courts earlier. It means access to justice is
denied because of NGT. Ministry of Environment and Forests needs to rethink and push for
sitting places in each district of the country. Sitting Places only in Delhi and proposed sitting
places at four other cities like Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai will not achieve the
desired result. The ministry needs to reconsider its approach to make sure access to justice is
not denied. Otherwise formation of NGT concentrated only at few places will cause more
problems than solutions.

The Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015

A Bill to set up a regular mechanism to encourage persons to disclose information on
corruption or willful misuse of power by public servants, including Ministers. The
Whistleblowers Protection Bill seeks to provide for adequate protection to persons reporting
corruption or willful misuse of discretion which causes a demonstrable loss to the
government, or commission of a criminal offence by a public servant.
The Bill sets forth the procedure for inquiring into the disclosures and provides for safeguards
against victimization. At the same time, it provides punishment for false or frivolous
complaints. On May 14, 2014, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the way for the
Whistleblowers Protection Act. This action represents a much-needed change from the
history of delay surrounding the original bill, which was first introduced in August 2010 and
then took years to pass the two Houses of Parliamentit passed in Lok Sabha on December
11, 2011 and in Rajya Sabha on February 21, 2014.

BGS Synergy
The new whistleblower law is a significant achievement. Nonetheless, the law has some
important limitations, and there are outstanding concerns about whether the law will be
enforced effectively and foster public confidence.
The new Whistleblower Protection Law gives the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) the
task of receiving complaints, assessing public disclosure requests, and safeguarding
complainants. The law further strengthens protection for whistleblowers through stronger
anti-retaliation provisions: The CVC has the power to order that whistleblowers who suffered
employment retaliation be restored to their prior positions. Moreover, the new law puts the
burden of proof on the public official to show that any adverse action taken against a
whistleblower was not retaliatory. Another key feature of the new legislation is that it ensures
confidentiality and penalizes any public official that reveals a complainants identity, without
proper approval, with up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to 50,000 rupees.
Additional penalties apply to organizations and individuals that fail to comply with CVC

requests for information, or that knowingly provide incomplete, incorrect, or misleading

information.
On the other hand, the law also places various limitations on complainants. Most notably,
there is penalty of up to two years imprisonment and a fine of up to 20,000 rupees for
individuals that bring false or frivolous complaints. There is also a 7-year time limit to bring
complaints, dating from the time the alleged corrupt practices occurred. In essence, the
whistleblower law seeks to balance two conflicting intereststhe need to protect the
individuals raising complaints against the need to prevent unnecessary harassment of public
officials and minimize frivolous claims.
While the new law is certainly an important step, a number of limitations and concerns
remain. First, the law lacks specific criminal penalties for physical attacks on whistleblowers
and given the number of violent attacks on complainants in the past, this is not a minor
concern. Second, the law does not provide civil penalties for workplace retaliation. Thus,
protection for whistleblowers under the bill is still inadequate. Moreover, whereas other
countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada define disclosure and
victimization broadly for purposes of their respective whistleblower protection laws,
Indias law does not define victimization and has a relatively narrow definition for
disclosure. This again limits the effectiveness of any complainant safeguards.
Beyond these specific deficiencies, there is a broader set of concerns about whether the law
will actually be enforced effectively. Enforcementand rebuilding public trust in the
governmentwill be critical to the new laws success. Given the history of scandals, the
government needs to regain the peoples confidence and help them believe that the
whistleblower law will really provide the type of protection it promises. Otherwise,
individuals will continue to stay silent regarding abuses of power. Also, without proper
enforcement, the protections described will be ineffective and may even exacerbate the
problem of corruption altogether.