In a bid to tackle staff crunch, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday started hearing matters of the regional benches via videoconferencing.
The proposal which was initially floated as an “interim measure to provide access to justice” to all petitioners, took off on Monday, with the Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel hearing matters from the Chennai Bench.
With no recent appointment at the four regional Benches in Kolkata, Pune, Chennai and Bhopal, the functioning of the benches was severely hit with a number of matters being transferred to the Principal Bench in Delhi.
Transfer of cases
“In the last few months, we have seen a large number of matters being transferred to the Principal Bench as the regional Benches are not operational. However, we are hoping that the disposal rates will improve with the hearings done via video-conferencing” said an NGT official.
The move has been touted as the one that will cause less hassle to litigants travelling to the Capital for hearings of cases.
However, senior advocates have raised concerns over the proposal.
“It is not a very happy situation, but with the government unwilling to make appointments there is no other option. There are inherent limitations of videoconferencing that may be faced by both the lawyers and their clients in respect to the arguments made. However, if the government chooses to keep the posts vacant, this is probably the only option available right now,” said Pinaki Mishra, President of NGT Bar Association.
