In a democracy, the existence and proper functioning of the judiciary is more important than that of the legislature and the executive. It is the judiciary where disputes are settled and problems addressed. It is there that citizens take refuge, when their rights are impugned upon. The National Green Tribunal was such an important shelter from the storm, for the people of Goa.
It was only fair then, that the government’s proposal to shift all Goa-based cases from the Pune bench of the NGT to the Delhi bench, would give rise to protests. Chief Minister Parsekar’s argument is that of added financial burdens, stating that the legal workforce would need to be in Pune often and hence moving it to Delhi, where its legal team, including Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni, are regular visitors.
As of now, there are about 200 cases pending before the Pune bench of the NGT. In the past, the NGT has passed many crucial judgements and orders from Pune which have benefitted social activists who turned to the NGT because of the lack of redressal forums within the state itself. From illegal sand mining to encroachments and illegal structures, the NGT has been the tool to put many spanners in the works of those who seek to circumvent the law. The government of Goa too has been on the receiving end of many orders as the NGT became a popular activists tool. Some orders raised eyebrows, such as the curious case of dry days at a wine festival, but otherwise, the orders had the complete support of the polity.
Now travelling to Delhi, instead of catching the overnight bus or driving to Pune, will be an inconvenience, more of money than time. A trip to Pune would incur costs of a few thousand rupees. Now, just a return air ticket to Delhi would be in the region of Rs 8000-12,000. Then there is the matter of accommodation. Just those numbers itself cast doubts on the government’s claim that Pune was a more expensive prospect than Delhi. There is also the fact that even if AG Nadkarni and his team are in Delhi regularly, the Goa cases wouldn’t require them to travel at other times. Assuming that all cases would be able to be argued and taken care of, only when the legal team is in Delhi on other work, is curiously illogical.
The reason for the creation of the benches in four different zones across the country was to lighten to load on the principal bench in Delhi, as well as ensure easy access and speedier trials. The reasons for moving the cases to Delhi do not pass muster. A better solution would have been to ask for a circuit bench in Goa itself to avoid all travelling costs. But then, that would mean more cases than the legal team could possibly handle.
Perhaps the one way the government could avoid having to fight cases at the National Green Tribunal, whether in Pune or Delhi, would be to figure out how to nip these issues in the bud. The best way to do that in a democratic process, would be to enforce the law and crack down on illegalities, as any government should.
