Photo source: ©© Nevil Zaveri
Excerpts;
Polluters beware: India has created a tribunal to punish those who sully the forests, rivers, or waterways or otherwise break its environmental laws, in the hopes of clearing a backlog of some 5,000 such cases languishing in a sluggish court system.
This is not the first time India tried to set up an environmental tribunal. An effort started 14 years ago went nowhere because of a lack of political will and undefined mandate.
This time, however, parliament has passed laws clearing the Green Tribunal as the sole authority in civil cases within its jurisdiction, though its rulings may be appealed…