The western zone bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which is all set to resume its operations in the city from April 1 after a gap of two years, is likely to take up pending cases of solid waste management. The NGT chairperson has appointed Sheo Kumar Singh as a Judicial Member for the western zone bench, thus clearing the way for the bench to start functioning. "Honourable member Sheo Kumar Singh, Judicial Member, stands posted and transferred to the NGT western zone bench with effect from April 1 till further orders," read the order. "We will raise issues of health hazard due to improper solid waste management in the city before the NGT. There are too many cases pending before the NGT but we will urge the bench to give priority to issues that pose health hazards for local residents at a time when there is a coronavirus outbreak in the city," said Asim Sarode, former president of the NGT Bar Association for western zone bench. He recently submitted a memorandum to the Pune Municipal Corporation, pointing out that the civic body was acting in contempt of NGT directions, while adding to the issues of public health in Pune. "The spread of coronavirus in Pune is a result of such constant neglect to health hazards on various levels for the PMC due to its irresponsible behaviour towards garbage management, and pollution of the river, which affects the quality of ground water.," said Sarode. On January 2, the NGT chairperson had posted Siddhanta Das as an Expert Member, and stated that the Pune bench will become functional from February 1, subject to the joining of a Judicial Member. The western zone bench has jurisdiction of cases in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. However, the bench couldn't start functioning as it didn't have a Judicial Member, and every NGT bench needs to have a Judicial Member and an Expert Member. On January 31, 2018, the Supreme Court had ordered that the NGT should not constitute a single-member bench but a division bench comprising both members. The order had stopped hearings at all benches, including Pune, which had a single-member bench. In March last year, the Supreme Court, while hearing the plea of the Pune NGT Bar Association, had appointed Justice Jawad Rahim as the acting chairperson of the tribunal. Rahim was tasked to participate in the selection process of judicial experts for NGT. Due to the delay in constituting a bench in Pune, the Principal Bench of NGT constituted a bench in Delhi to hold hearings through video-conferencing, but only a limited number of pleas could be addressed through this process. As there were no hearings in the tribunal for a long time, the number of petitions that were being filed in NGT reduced drastically.
