Environmental Justice in India ─ The National Green Tribunal

The complexities of modern environmental regulation when combined with international law that addresses environmental protection have led many jurisdictions to develop some form of environmental court or tribunal. In 2009 it was estimated that some 41 nation states had sought to strengthen implementation and enforcement of environmental law by concentrating judicial expertise within specialist tribunals. However, the list of countries is striking in its inclusion of developing nations such as Bangladesh, Kenya and Malawi. Indeed, it seems that developing nations have taken the task of capacity building in the area of environmental law far more seriously than many of their developed counterparts.

The establishment of the Indian National Green Tribunal (NGT) was a result of the recommendations of the Law Commission of India and was set up to secure access to environmental justice: a key component providing just and equitable outcomes for sustainable development. This book explores the genesis, operation and effectiveness of the NGT and has four key objectives:

• To examine the importance of access to justice in environmental matters promoting sustainability and good governance;

• To provide an analytical and critical account of the judicial structures that offer access to environmental justice in India;

• To analyse the establishment, working practice and effectiveness of NGT aimed to advance distinctively green jurisprudence in India;

• To present and review the success and challenges facing the NGT, adding suggestions for change and identifying the emerging challenges arising as a result of the progressive success of the NGT.

Providing an informative analysis of a growing judicial development in one of the most powerful emerging nations, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, environmental law, development studies and sustainable development.

Gitanjali Nain Gill is a Reader in Law at Northumbria Law School, UK