JOIN USSC slams Centre over green tribunal
The Supreme Court on Monday gave three weeks time to the Central Government to provide accommodation as well as secretarial staff to the judicial members of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in order to help them perform their work.
“Government is not very serious in making the green tribunal function effectively. You (centre) neither provided accommodation nor staff, we will give you seven days for it,” a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhyaya said, indignant over the government’s inability to providing proper facilities to the tribunal, which came into existence on October 18, last year.
P P Malhotra, Additional Solicitor General, however, convinced the court to provide three weeks time and gave an undertaking to take every step in this regard.
The Bench had earlier expressed its displeasure at retired judges of the Supreme Court having to “beg” for accommodation as judicial members of the tribunal.
The court had said that it was because of the indifferent attitude of the government that two judicial members of the tribunal resigned from their post.
The court had also pointed out that a judicial officer of the tribunal had to stay at the
Supreme Court guest house for one whole year while another judicial member had to manage from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh’s guest house.