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Schedule III of the National Green Tribunal Act 2010: Amendment to Certain Enactments

Schedule III to the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 records the consequential amendments made in 2010 to specified environmental enactments so that appeals from designated orders, decisions and directions could be taken to the National Green Tribunal.

Section 36 and Schedule III: Section 36 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 provides that the enactments specified in Schedule III shall be amended in the manner stated in that Schedule. The Schedule therefore operates as amending legislation and should be read together with the current text of each affected enactment.
Current-law note: Schedule III preserves the amendments made by the NGT Act in 2010, but later legislation has changed parts of the surrounding law. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 was repealed in 2017. The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was renamed the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 with effect from 1 December 2023. The historical wording of Schedule III is reproduced below, followed where useful by a present-status note.
Contents
  1. Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
  2. Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977
  3. Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
  4. Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
  5. Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
  6. Biological Diversity Act, 2002
PART I

Amendment to the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974

Act 6 of 1974 - insertion of Section 33B. Schedule III inserted Section 33B after Section 33A to provide a statutory appeal to the National Green Tribunal.

Section 33B - Appeal to National Green Tribunal

Any person aggrieved by:

(a) an order or decision of the appellate authority under Section 28, made on or after the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010; or

(b) an order passed by the State Government under Section 29, on or after the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010; or

(c) directions issued under Section 33A by a Board, on or after the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010,

may file an appeal to the National Green Tribunal established under Section 3 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, in accordance with the provisions of that Act.

Meaning: Section 33B creates the NGT appellate route for the specified appellate orders, State Government orders and Board directions under the Water Act.

PART II

Amendments to the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977

Act 36 of 1977 - historical amendment. Schedule III amended Section 13(4) and inserted Section 13A.

Amendment of Section 13

In Section 13, in sub-section (4), for the words "shall be final", the words, figures and letters "shall, if no appeal has been filed under section 13A, be final" were substituted.

Section 13A - Appeal to National Green Tribunal

Any person aggrieved by an order or decision of the appellate authority made under Section 13, on or after the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, could file an appeal to the National Green Tribunal established under Section 3 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, in accordance with that Act.

Present status: The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 was repealed by the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 2017 as part of the abolition of specified cesses associated with the GST rollout. This Part of Schedule III is therefore relevant principally as legislative history.
PART III

Amendment to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980

Act 69 of 1980 - insertion of Section 2A. Schedule III inserted Section 2A after Section 2.

Section 2A - Appeal to National Green Tribunal

Any person aggrieved by an order or decision of the State Government or other authority made under Section 2, on or after the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, may file an appeal to the National Green Tribunal established under Section 3 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, in accordance with the provisions of that Act.

Updated name: The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was renamed the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 by the 2023 amendment, effective from 1 December 2023. Schedule III itself uses the statute's name as it stood in 2010.
PART IV

Amendment to the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981

Act 14 of 1981 - insertion of Section 31B. Schedule III inserted Section 31B after Section 31A.

Section 31B - Appeal to National Green Tribunal

Any person aggrieved by an order or decision of the Appellate Authority under Section 31, made on or after the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, may file an appeal to the National Green Tribunal established under Section 3 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, in accordance with the provisions of that Act.

Meaning: Section 31B provides the further statutory appeal to the NGT from qualifying decisions of the Appellate Authority under Section 31 of the Air Act.

PART V

Amendment to the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

Act 29 of 1986 - insertion of Section 5A. Schedule III inserted Section 5A after Section 5.

Section 5A - Appeal to National Green Tribunal

Any person aggrieved by any directions issued under Section 5, on or after the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, may file an appeal to the National Green Tribunal established under Section 3 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, in accordance with the provisions of that Act.

Meaning: Section 5 empowers the Central Government to issue environmental directions. Section 5A provides the NGT appellate remedy against qualifying directions issued under Section 5.

PART VI

Amendments to the Biological Diversity Act, 2002

Act 18 of 2003 - amendment of Section 52 and insertion of Section 52A. Schedule III redirected the specified post-NGT appeals to the Tribunal while protecting appeals already pending before a High Court when the NGT Act commenced.

Amendment of Section 52

The following provisos were inserted after the then-existing proviso:

"Provided further that nothing contained in this section shall apply on and from the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010:

Provided also that any appeal pending before the High Court, before the commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, shall continue to be heard and disposed of by the High Court as if the National Green Tribunal had not been established under section 3 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010."

Section 52A - Appeal to National Green Tribunal

Schedule III inserted a provision allowing a person aggrieved by a determination of benefit sharing or an order of the National Biodiversity Authority or a State Biodiversity Board under the Act, made on or after commencement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, to appeal to the National Green Tribunal in accordance with that Act.

Reading current law: The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 has subsequently been amended. For a current dispute, the latest consolidated statutory text and the current NGT appellate provisions should be checked rather than relying only on the 2010 amending language reproduced in Schedule III.

Why Schedule III matters

Schedule III is the legislative bridge between the National Green Tribunal Act and several major environmental statutes. Its amendments placed specified environmental decisions within the specialist appellate jurisdiction of the NGT. Because some parent enactments have since been repealed, renamed or amended, Schedule III should be used as the source of the 2010 amendments and read with the current version of the relevant parent law.

Legal text should be verified from the latest official Gazette or India Code before use in proceedings.