National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 – s. 19(1) – Non-compliance of principles of Natural justice – Opportunity not given to file objections to the recommendations made by the Committee – NGT constituted an expert committee and sought a report regarding the alleged violations complained by the first respondent – However, opportunity to raise objections to the report not given to appellants – Held:It is apparent that the appellants were not given an opportunity to file their objections to the recommendations made by the Committee constituted by the NGT which is apparent by the fact that the recommendations were uploaded on 15.01.2022 and the final order of the NGT was passed three days later on, i.e. 18.01.2022 – Thus, this is a clear case of there being non compliance with the principles of natural justice – NGT though is a special adjudicatory body constituted by an Act of Parliament, nevertheless, the discharge of its function must be in accordance with law which would also include compliance with the principles of natural justice as envisaged in s.19(1) of the Act – Therefore, the impugned order set aside, matter is remanded to the NGT for re-consideration from the stage of the recommendations filed by the expert Committee constituted by the NGT.
Doctrines/Principles – ‘Official notice’ – A device used in administrative procedure – The data on which an authority is acting must be apprised to the party against whom the data is to be used as such a party would then have an opportunity not only to refute it but also supplement, explain or give a different perspective to the facts upon which the authority relies.
Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. That the NGT is a judicial body and therefore exercises adjudicatory function. The very nature of an adjudicatory function would carry with it the requirement that principles of natural justice are complied with, particularly when there is an adversarial system of hearing of the cases before the Tribunal or for that matter before the Courts in India. The NGT though is a special adjudicatory body constituted by an Act of Parliament, nevertheless, the discharge of its function must be in accordance with law which would also include compliance with the principles of natural justice as envisaged in Section 19(1) of the Act. [Para 15][455-B-C]
2. In this context, it would be useful to refer to what is known as the ‘official notice’ doctrine, which is a device used in administrative procedure. Although an authority can rely upon materials familiar to it in its expert capacity without the need formally to introduce them in evidence, nevertheless, the parties ought to be informed of materials so noticed and be given an opportunity to explain or rebut them. The data on which an authority is acting must be apprised to the party against whom the data is to be used as such a party would then have an opportunity not only to refute it but also supplement, explain or give a different perspective to the facts upon which the authority relies. This has been explained by Schwartz in his work on Administrative Law. The aforesaid doctrine applies with greater force to a judicial / adjudicatory body. Therefore, applying the aforesaid principle to the cases that come up before the NGT, if the NGT intends to rely upon an expert Committee report or any other relevant material that comes to its knowledge, it should disclose in advance to the party so as to give an opportunity for discussion and rebuttal. Thus, factual information which comes to the knowledge of NGT on the basis of the report of the Committee constituted by it, if to be relied upon by the NGT, then, the same must be disclosed to the parties for their response and a reasonable opportunity must be afforded to present their observations or comments on such a report to the Tribunal. [Para 16][455-D-H]
3. It is needless to observe that the experts’ opinion is only by way of assistance in arriving at a final conclusion. But, in the instant case the report of the expert Committee as well as the recommendations have been made the basis of the directions and such an approach is improper. [Para 17][456-A-B]
4. This Court has perused the impugned order of the NGT. It is apparent that the appellant(s) herein who were respondents before the NGT were not given an opportunity to file their objections to the recommendations made by the Committee constituted by the NGT which is apparent by the fact that the recommendations were uploaded on 15.01.2022 and the final order of the NGT was passed three days later on, i.e. 18.01.2022. Thus, this is a clear case of there being non compliance with the principles of natural justice. On the said ground alone the impugned order is set aside, the matter is remanded to the NGT for re-consideration from the stage of the recommendations filed by the expert Committee constituted by the NGT. [Para 18][456B-D] Sanghar Zuber Ismail vs. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Another (2021) SCC Online SC 669; Kantha Vibhag Yuva Koli Samaj
Parivartan vs. State of Gujarat 2022 SCC online SC 120; Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited v. Union of India (2023) SCC Online 366 – relied on.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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