Within 120 days of first hearing the case, a final verdict on the alleged destruction of a part of the Yamuna’s floodplains for a spiritual festival is due on September 28 an indication of the speed at which India’s National Green Tribunal is hearing and passing judgement.
Since 2010, when the tribunal was established to exclusively hear cases related to environmental violations, cases before it have risen a hundred fold, until March 2016, according to government data submitted to the Lok Sabha, Parliament’s lower house.
Although cases pending in the National Green Tribunal doubled between 2015 and 2016, as workload grew, the proportion of cases pending reduced from 43% in 2013 to 21% in 2016.
About 7,700 cases were filed in the National Green Tribunal till March 2015, since its inception in October 2010. It received roughly the same number of cases (7,300) the following year, 2015-16. As of March 2016, 3,000 cases are pending.
Judicial delays plague most courts in India, as IndiaSpend has reported here, here and here.
India leads world in environmental conflicts, IndiaSpend reported in April 2016.
The Art of Living – promoted by spiritual leader Ravi Shankar – ”completely destroyed” the “entire floodplain area used for the main event site”, causing “invisible loss of biodiversity” that “may never be able to return”, a committee of experts appointed by the National Green Tribunal told the Indian Express.
The Nature Conservancy, an environment conservation advocacy, explains the concept of floodplains and why they are important in this video:
This article first appeared on IndiaSpend, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.
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