Environment cases to be disposed of in a year: National Green Tribunal

JALANDHAR: Chairperson of National Green Tribunal Justice Swatanter Kumar today said the tribunal has set a deadline of one year for disposing of cases pertaining to environmental problems, as he cited Delhi's example where he said children were facing a number of health problems due to "ever increasing pollution".

Addressing a function organised by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) to mark the World Environment Day here today, Justice Kumar said the tribunal was making all out efforts to make the country free from environmental pollution.

He said that one year deadline has been set to ensure quick justice to petitioners in such cases of immense public importance.

The NGT chairperson said that even in Delhi, small children are facing "a number of health problems due to the ever increasing pollution, which is a cause of worry for all of them."

Kumar categorically said that till now, 82 per cent of cases filed in the NGT have been disposed of.

"We never want that a man files a case and his grandson gets the justice, so we have set this deadline for delivering justice to people within an year," he added.

Kumar also batted for introduction of environment preservation as a subject in the primary curriculum of the schools so that the spirit of protecting environment could be imbibed in the children from the beginning.

"It is our country, our state and our mother earth and we will have to save it otherwise no notification of the government or judgement by court or tribunal can help in it. So join hands and play a proactive role in preserving the environment and making our country clean, green and pollution free," he added.

Citing examples of natural disasters in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Nepal, Justice Kumar said they have proved that human interference in the process of nature is proving very costly to them.