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For the first time, when the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 was passed, Parliament thought that the Tribunal should be manned by a member of the superior Judiciary. Similarly, in 1997 when the National Environment Appellate Authority, 1997 was constituted, the Authority was to consist of a retired Supreme Court Judge and Members having scientific experience etc. But, these Tribunals are now non-functional.........
It is now proposed, as stated earlier, that there will be an Environment Court in each State (or group of States) and will have appellate jurisdiction. It will have appellate jurisdiction which is now being exercised by officers of the Government under the special Acts. Pending appeals under the Water (P&CP) Act, 1974, Air (P&CP) Act, 1981 and under the Rules framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 must be transferred to the proposed Environment Court in each State and all future appeals must be filed in the said Court. Sec. 28 of the Water (P&CP) Act, 1974 and sec. 31 of the Air (P&CP) Act, 1981 must be amended, as stated earlier, stating that the appeals shall hereafter lie to the Environment Court under the proposed Act and that pending appeals shall stand transferred to the said Court. Similarly, a provision must be inserted in the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 stating that all appeals against orders passed by the various authorities under the Rules made under that Act shall be filed in the concerned Environment Court at the level of each State (or group of States) and that pending appeals before appellate authorities constituted under the said Rules shall also stand transferred to the Environment Court. A provision may also have to be made in the proposed Environment Courts Act enabling the Central Government to issue notifications from time to time, notifying that the Environment Court will be the appellate Authority in respect of orders passed under any other Central Act and also enabling the State Governments, with the approval of the Central Government, to notify, from time to time, the Environmental Court as the appellate Court for purposes of other State Acts. The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 was a law intended to award compensation to those affected by hazardous substances and we propose that this relief of damages which was to be granted by the National Environment Tribunal - for injury on a strict liability basis - should be a relief which will be granted by the proposed Environment Court.
This will necessitate repeal of the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and bringing those provisions into the proposed Act. It is also proposed that the relief which could have been granted by the Environment Appellate Authority under the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 should now be granted by the proposed Court, in respect of violation of safeguards under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the appellate powers contemplated by sec. 11 of that Act be now granted to the proposed Court. This will require repeal of the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 and transfer of those provisions into the proposed Act. We are also of the view that the appeals against awards passed by the Collector under sec. 8 of the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 (which deals with compensation payable for injury to person or property on account of hazardous substances) should lie to the proposed Environment Court. Sec. 8 of that Act contemplates that the compensation payable and paid under sec. 7 shall go in reduction of any compensation payable under any other law. The proposed Environment Court will be entitled to pass interlocutory orders, including ad interim and ex parte orders pending the appeals.

47. The 186th Report of the Law Commission, submitted in 2003, eventually paved the way for the enactment of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. This can be seen from the relevant portion of the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Act, which read as follows:-

"4. The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 was enacted to provide for strict liability for damages arising out of any accident occurring while handling any hazardous substance and for the establishment of a National Environment Tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases arising from such accident, with a view to giving relief and compensation for damages to persons, property and the environment. However, the National Environment Tribunal, which had a very limited mandate, was not established. The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 was enacted to establish the National Environment Appellate Authority to hear appeals with respect to restriction of areas in which any industries, operations or processes or class of industries, operations or processes shall not be carried out or shall be carried out subject to certain safeguards under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The National Environment Appellate Authority has a limited workload because of the narrow scope of its jurisdiction. 5. Taking into account the large number of environmental cases pending in higher courts and the involvement of multidisciplinary issues in such cases, the Supreme Court requested the Law Commission of India to consider the need for constitution of specialised environmental courts. Pursuant to the same, the Law Commission has recommended the setting up of environmental courts having both original and appellate jurisdiction relating to environmental laws. 6. In view of the foregoing paragraphs, a need has been felt to establish a specialised tribunal to handle the multidisciplinary issues involved in environmental cases. Accordingly, it has been decided to enact a law to provide for the establishment of the National Green Tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of civil cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment."

51. The second contention of the learned counsel is that the LoEA does not stand repealed either expressly or impliedly under Section 38 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.

52. It is true that under Sub-Section (1) of Section 38, the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 alone stand repealed. But the omission to make a mention of the Loss of Ecology Authority in Section 38 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 is understandable. The LoEA was not created by a statute so as to be repealed by an enactment creating another Tribunal in the place of the same. What was created pursuant to the directions issued by the Supreme Court, cannot be repealed by an act of Parliament. Moreover, the expression "repeal" normally would apply to an Act or statutory prescription. The Loss of Ecology Authority was not created by any statutory prescription. It was created by the Central Government in an exercise of the power conferred by Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, pursuant to the directions issued by the Supreme Court. Hence, the question of repeal does not at all arise. The Notification issued by the Central Government on 30.9.1996 creating the LoEA in exercise of the power conferred by Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, cannot be repealed under Section 38. A Notification cannot be repealed by an Act of Parliament. Therefore, the second argument does not hold good.