Team Herald

PANJIM: Environment Secretary Daulat Hawaldar will hold additional charge as Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) Chairman till a full-fledged chairman takes over. 

The Chief Secretary had been holding additional charge of the board since March 2016. Mumbai resident Ganesh Budhu Shetgaonkar, 53, has been shortlisted for the post of chairman of GSPCB, and is likely to take charge this month end. “Till the new chairman takes over, Secretary Environment will hold the additional charge as GSPCB chairman,” he said. 

The post of Chairman has been vacant since March 2016 after former chairman Jose Manuel Noronha was transferred as chairman of Goa Public Service Commission. 

The appointment of the new chairman was held back after National Green Tribunal (NGT) had asked all State pollution boards to draft special rules within six months to fill vacancies in the boards as per their directions that made it mandatory for the chairman and Secretary to have special knowledge or practical experience in environment protection studies. 

The order was struck down by the Supreme Court in September this year.