Madras High Court vacates stay on ex-Tamil Nadu CS appointment in NGT

The first bench ruled that Vaidyanathan possessed the qualification to hold the post of expert member of NGT

Vacating the interim stay imposed on former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan's appointment as an expert member of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Madras High Court on Saturday ruled that he possessed the qualification required to hold the post.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy vacated the interim stay imposed by them on April 9 on a petition filed by Poovulagin Nanbargal seeking to quash her appointment to the Southern Bench of the NGT on the grounds that she was not qualified to hold the post.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the first bench ruled that Vaidyanathan possessed the qualification to hold the post of expert member of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The court counted her tenure as Environment Secretary for two-and-a-half years and her stint as Health Secretary for another two-and-a-half-years as required experience for holding the post.

Poovulagin Nanbargal, an NGO fighting on issues related to environment headed by G Sundarrajan, approached the High Court in December 2020 seeking to quash the appointment of Vaidyanathan on the grounds that she was not qualified to hold the post.

In its writ petition, the NGO alleged that Vaidyanathan's appointment clearly violated the guidelines that say anyone appointed to the post should have five years experience in the field of environment or should have been associated with related organisations.

The NGO also said Section 5 of the NGT Act clearly stipulates administrative experience of 15 years, including experience of five years in dealing with environmental matter either in the central or state governments or in a reputed institute.

During the hearing on April 9, the bench had remarked that “we are not happy with the qualification” while granting an interim stay. Vaidyanathan, who served as Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu from December 2016 to June 2019, was to assume charge as expert member of the NGT at its Southern Bench in Chennai on April 19.