Environmental Organisations: Chapter test

All three can apply. Section 18(2) allows an application by the injured person, the owner of damaged property, legal representatives, an agent, any person aggrieved, including any representative body or organisation, and also by the Central or a State Government, a Union territory administration, the CPCB, a State Pollution Control Board, a pollution control committee, a local authority or an environmental authority. This broad standing is what makes public-interest environmental litigation possible before the NGT.

They function in Union territories. Under Section 4(4) of the Water Act (and the matching provision of the Air Act), no State Board is constituted for a Union territory; the Central Board exercises a State Board's powers there and may delegate them to a body specified by the Central Government. These delegated bodies are the Pollution Control Committees, e.g. the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

The answer is five years. Section 15(3) bars an application for relief, compensation or restitution unless it is made within five years of the date the cause first arose; the Tribunal may allow a further sixty days for sufficient cause. The shorter limits belong to other provisions: six months for disputes under section 14 and thirty days for appeals under section 16.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Section 13 of the Water Act allows the governments of two or more contiguous States (or a State and a Union territory) to agree to set up a Joint Board. Under Section 16(2)(h) the Central Board, in consultation with the State Governments concerned, lays down, modifies or annuls standards for a stream or well. Statement 3 is wrong: a State Board is constituted by the State Government (section 4), which nominates its chairman and members; the CPCB coordinates and advises State Boards but does not appoint them.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The Preamble of the Act recalls India's participation in the Stockholm (1972) and Rio (1992) conferences, which called on States to provide judicial redress and compensation for environmental damage, and notes that the right to a healthy environment is part of Article 21. Section 38 repealed the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 (never effectively enforced) and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997. Statement 3 is wrong: pending cases of the Appellate Authority were transferred to the NGT itself, not to the Supreme Court.

In Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai v. Ankita Sinha (7 October 2021), a three-judge Bench held that the NGT is a sui generis forum with a wide remedial role and can act suo motu, for instance on letters or news reports, to protect the environment. The other cases laid down substantive doctrines rather than the Tribunal's procedural power.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. NAMP is a nationwide network run by the CPCB with State Boards, Pollution Control Committees and research institutions. Four pollutants — SO2, NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 — are identified for regular monitoring at all locations. Statement 3 is wrong: NAMP stations are largely manual stations, where 24-hour samples are taken twice a week (giving about 104 observations a year); real-time data come from a separate network of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS).

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Under Section 18 of the CAQM Act, 2021, appeals against the Commission's orders, directions or actions lie to the National Green Tribunal. Section 3(6) gives the Commission exclusive jurisdiction over matters covered by the Act in the NCR and adjoining areas, and its directions prevail over conflicting orders of the State Governments, the CPCB and the State Boards. Statement 3 is wrong: Section 22 bars civil courts from entertaining suits or proceedings arising from the Commission's actions or directions.