In the understaffed NGT, Centre appoints 2 judicial members and 4 new expert members

Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, former judge, Delhi High Court, and presently a member of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC); and Justice Umesh Chandra Sharma, former judge of Allahabad High Court and currently a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal, Chandigarh, are the two new judicial members.

Out of the four new expert members, two are Indian Forest Service Officers – Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi, retired principal chief conservator of forest, Gujarat, and Ishwar Singh, retired principal chief conservator of forest, Delhi. The other two are Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, currently a member of the Commission for Air Quality Management and former joint secretary, Environment Ministry, and Prashant Gargava, former member secretary, Central Pollution Control Board.

It has not been specified when the new judicial and expert members will take charge, and their exact place of assignment is also not clear. S Vineeta, Registrar General, NGT, was not available for a comment on the appointments.

Section 4(1) of the NGT Act, 2010, states that the Tribunal shall consist of not less than 10 but a maximum of 20 full-time judicial members and the same number of expert members. Until the Centre’s latest order, NGT had only five expert members and six judicial members. Now, a strength of six judicial members will continue, and there will be seven expert members.

The NGT has five benches – Principal bench (Delhi), Eastern zone (Kolkata), Western Zone (Pune), Southern Zone (Chennai) and Central Zone (Bhopal).

Since Monday, August 12, chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava has been virtually hearing cases listed before the Kolkata bench, along with expert member Senthil Vel.

The Supreme Court has, in previous orders, granted tenure extension to three judicial members and two expert members of NGT, given the vacancies and continuing search and selection process. On January 16, 2023, a bench headed by former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ordered that Justice Sheo Kumar Singh, judicial member of the Bhopal bench of NGT, will continue until the selection process for new judicial members is completed.

Justice Singh’s tenure in Bhopal will end immediately after a newly appointed judicial member assumes charge.

Similarly, on April 3, a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh ordered the extension of tenure for two judicial members and two expert members of the NGT. This allowed judicial members Justice Agarwal and Justice Sthalekar, and expert members K Satyagopal and Verma to continue. All were due to retire in April.

Under the NGT Act and as per appointment norms, a judicial member is appointed for five years or till he attains the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier. Justice Singh was due to demit office in 2023; however, he was granted an extension and was also briefly acting chairperson of the NGT until the present chairperson, Justice Prakash Shrivastava, was appointed.

A judicial member should be a former judge of the High Court, or a district or additional district judge for 10 years or an advocate with substantial experience in environmental litigation matters before NGT, HC, or SC.

Meanwhile, expert members are supposed to have a degree or a Master’s in science with 25 years of experience in the relevant field, and five years of practical experience in the field of environment and forests in a reputed national institution. Former state or Central Government officials are eligible for this role.