India’s National Green Tribunal: Quo Vadis?

This chapter considers India’s National Green Tribunal (‘NGT’) quo vadis (where are you going?), tracing its journey through the lens of the core values evaluative performance framework from an ‘outsider’ perspective. The International Framework for Court Excellence (‘IFCE’) promotes ten interlinked and interdependent core values that support courts to deliver justice and quality court services. These core values are equality before law, accessibility, fairness, impartiality, judicial independence, competence, integrity, transparency, timeliness, and certainty. These values, as the hallmarks of effective judiciaries, are a repository of both power and procedure within the decision-making process to secure access to environmental justice.

India’s NGT is officially described as a ‘specialized body equipped with necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues’. This chapter critically analyses the effectiveness of the NGT in adhering to and promoting the core values in its performance, processes, and working practices to deliver environmental justice. It acknowledges the importance of first looking backward before looking forward thereby avoiding the trap of failing to learn the lessons of history.