Victims to pay for demanding compensation from polluters

NEW DELHI: If you are seeking compensation or damages from an industry for polluting, be ready to pay up too. The environment ministry has now made it mandatory for the victims to shell out 1% of the amount they are claiming as compensation as ‘fee’ to the newly set up National Green Tribunal.

The unprecedented rule will make the victim pay to the government to deliver justice. The culprit will not.

If the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims were filing for compensation today, under these new rules, they would have ended up paying more than Rs 10 crore to seek justice against Union Carbide.

The environment ministry set up the National Green Tribunal to handle all cases relating to environmental issues. Once the court is operational, any other court will not be allowed to take up any civil cases relating to environmental legislations such as Environment Protection Act. The creation of the tribunal, which can have a few benches around the country, got flak for centralizing the process and expecting victims to run to the court, now in Delhi, from all over the country.

But the rules of operationalising the NGT, quietly passed by the environment ministry, make things worse.

The rules note, "An application or appeal where compensation has been claimed, shall be accompanied by a fee equivalent to 1% of the compensation claimed, subject to a minimum of Rs 1,000."

The perversity of the provision would hit harder if the plaintiff loses his or her petition. The amount would still end up in the pockets of the government as ‘fee’.

While the complainant would have to shell the money out of his pocket, the respondent, if proven guilty, would bear no burden.

The only exception made in the rules is for those holding a Below Poverty Line card.