National Green Tribunal chief's appointment: MoEF sat on file for two months, show RTI papers

NEW DELHI: The environment ministry dragged its feet for two months over the appointment of National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairperson, according to documents accessed under RTI. This gains significance in light of the Supreme Court's observation that the government had failed to address the appointment process to important tribunals and provide infrastructure and manpower to these quasi-judicial bodies.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya recently said delay in appointing chairperson of the NGT resulted in an eminent retired judge of the Supreme Court withdrawing his consent after agreeing to take the assignment.

According to documents accessed through RTI by activist S C Agrawal, the environment ministry moved the Cabinet note for Justice R V Raveendran's appointment on April 4. Chief Justice S H Kapadia had, in fact, recommended the retired SC judge's name as early as January 10, 20 days before the incumbent Justice L S Panta was expected to step down.

In fact, in an indication of the miscommunication between the government, records show that the environment ministry moved the Cabinet note a month after Justice Raveendran had withdrawn his consent for the job.

The law ministry had, in a letter on January 4, asked the CJI for his recommendation for the post of NGT chairperson since Justice Panta's term was ending on January 30. Justice Kapadia responded by recommending Justice Raveendran's name on January 10, adding that the judge had given his verbal consent to accept the assignment. Following this, law minister Salman Khurshid wrote to environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan communicating the SC recommendation on January 18.

According to the documents provided by the department of justice, the CJI wrote to the law minister on April 2 enclosing a copy of Justice Raveendran's March 28 letter expressing his inability to accept the assignment. In his note, Justice Raveendran said "there was some delay in accepting the resignation of the previous chairperson'' and there were changes in circumstances necessitating his stay in Bangalore. He added that he was withdrawing his consent for the post.

Natarajan, in her letter to Khurshid on April 18, admitted that the Cabinet note had been moved on April 4 asking for the process to be re-initiated.