National Green Tribunal Chairperson Swatanter Kumar on Friday called for "more qualified people" in the state NGT boards while ruing the failure of environmental regulations due to improper implementation.
"We have state boards, which are headed strangely… one lawyer is the chairman of the board, you want him to deal with complex issues, environmental clearance… You must have proper qualified people as part of these boards to ensure proper implementation because they have to discharge immense responsibilities," he said in his address at the National Conference on Air and Water Pollution.
The event was organised by the Niti Aayog, EPIC India and University of Chicago and attended by officials of 14 state pollution control boards.
About the regulatory regime, he said that though there are enough laws in country — the air act, the biodiversity act and the environmental protection act to name a few, respect for them is lacking which is a serious matter.
"You cannot implement environment law without providing incentive to the industry… you can’t shut them down especially in a developing country like India," he said.
Praising the NGT as the only tribunal for environment in the world with such large jurisdiction and for providing affordable environment justice, he said this is a complement to India.
"I don’t think that anywhere in the world you have environmental courts and specialised tribunals of such jurisdiction.
The NGT chief also called for making access to environmental justice more easier.
"Probably we are the tribunal in the world that gives you (justice) in less than Rs 1,000…
Justice Kumar also urged people to have respect for nature.