NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has warned the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) of penal action against officials if a policy pertaining to the same is not amended by February 28, 2019. The directions came post a plea by the Indian Institute of Sustainable Development alleging that illegal felling of trees was taking place due to charcoal being used as fuel in industries, therefore seeking ban on the use of charcoal.
A Bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, NGT Chairperson, after observing that despite previous orders the Ministry had failed to amend the existing policy, said, “Five months have passed but the needful has not been done. More than one year has passed from the date of earlier order. The authorities thus appear to be in violation of order of this tribunal.”
“As a last opportunity, we grant time for compliance of order dated August 2018 till February 28, 2019 with further direction that coercive measures, including prosecution may have to be taken for non-compliance of the officer responsible,” the bench added.
The Ministry have submitted an affidavit to the tribunal in December last year which said that the process of framing guidelines will take six months.