Panaji (Goa): The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued show cause notices to chairmen of State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB) across the country including Goa after it failed to appoint the Chairman and Member Secretary in accordance with the Rules, almost ten months after the Tribunal passed its judgment.
The notice is also been issued to the Chief Secretaries.
NGT had on August 23, last year, issued an order making it mandatory the special knowledge or practical experience in the environment protection studies for the post of Chairman and Member Secretaries of SPCBs, across the country. NGT had directed States to examine the appointments of their existing chief in their respective SPCBs and set aside the same if in violation of law within three months
The NGT- Principal Bench, New Delhi has issued show cause notice to all the Chairmen of the respective Boards who have not been appointed in consonance with the Judgment of the Tribunal and or the rules having been framed in the terms thereof.
“They shall show cause as to why they should not be asked to cease functioning as Chairman of the respective Boards,” the four bench tribunal said. The Boards have been granted one weeks time to reply.
The matter is fixed for June 7.
The Tribunal noted that none of the Board’s have taken effective steps to implement its past order.
“The period of three months had elapsed in November 2016 and further period of six months has already gone by but no results have come as of now,” the Tribunal observed in its order.
“We do not expect the State government not to take action on the orders and to flout the directions issued by it, particularly in relation to posts of such sensitivity and responsibility, as the entire environmental status of the State, would depend on the functioning of the SPCB where the chairman and Member secretary are the head of the organization,” it added.
In Goa, the post of Chairman is been vacant since March 2016 after former chairman Jose Manual Noronha was appointed as chairman of the Goa Public Service Commission. At the same time, the three-year tenure of the existing GSPCB and its MS Levinson Martins ended in June, last year. The Board is currently without full-time MS and Chairman.
Team TNV
