Supreme Court Allows Member From Another Bench To Join NGT Pune Bench Virtually

The order was passed by Justices B.R Gavai, KV Viswanathan and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh in a case wherein it had ordered all the NGT matters of Pune Western Zone's jurisdiction to be decided by the NGT, Pune Bench.

To recall, the Court had, in the year 2022, stayed an order of the Bombay High Court quashing administrative notices issued by the Registrar General of NGT. The notices had transferred cases from the Western Zone Bench at Pune to Special Benches at the Principal Seat at New Delhi.

The Court had stated that since two members, one judicial and one expert, are now available for the Western Zone Bench, all matters pertaining to it, including matters arising out of the States of Goa and Maharashtra, would be heard only by the Pune Bench.

During the recent Court hearing, Senior Advocate Arvind P Datar, appearing for the NGT, informed the Court that out of two members at Pune, one member is suffering from a medical ailment and requires frequent hospitalisation. Consequently, due to the hospitalisation of this member, the Bench is unable to function properly, and this leads to a huge pendency of cases.

Given this, he requested the Court permit another member to join virtually. Considering these facts and circumstances, the Court passed the following order:

“We, therefore, clarify that our order dated 18.10.2022 will not come in the way of the NGT in constituting a Bench at Pune with one of the members stationed at Pune alongwith another member either at Principal Seat or another Benches, who shall join virtually.”

Case Title: NGT And Anr. v. Goa Foundation And Ors., DIARY NO. - 31440/2022

Click here to read/ download the order