Decks cleared to appoint GSPCB Chairman, Member Secretary

PANJIM: Goa government, which has been struggling over the past year to appoint a full-time Chairman and Member Secretary (MS) to the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), got a breather, when the Supreme Court set aside the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order making special knowledge or practical experience in environment protection studies mandatory for both posts. 

NGT on August 23, 2016, in a countrywide order, had asked all State pollution control boards (SPCB) to draft special rules within six months to fill the vacancies in the boards as per their directions that made it mandatory that the chairman and member secretary have special knowledge or practical experience in environment protection studies. 

The Uttar Pradesh government challenged this order before the Supreme Court. In his judgement, Justice Madan Lokur said, “While we fully commiserate with the NGT and share the pain and anguish, we are of the view that the Tribunal has, at law, exceeded its jurisdiction in directing the State Governments to reconsider the appointments and in laying down guidelines for appointment to the SPCBs.”

“While we appreciate the anxiety of the NGT to preserve and protect the environment as a part of its statutory functions, we cannot extend these concepts to the extent of enabling the NGT to consider who should be appointed as a Chairperson or a member of any SPCB or who should not be so appointed,” the order states. 

Setting aside the NGT order, the Apex Court has asked all States to ensure that suitable professionals and experts are appointed on the Board. 

“On the grievance relating to the issue of guidelines by the NGT, the meat of the matter concerns the appointment of officials who are experts in their field and are otherwise professional. This is for each State government to consider and decide what is the right thing to do under the circumstances – should an unqualified or inexperienced person be appointed or should the SPCB be a representative but expert body?” it stated. 

The Court pulled up States, recalling that the Central Government, time and again, requested the States to appoint persons who could add value and stature to the SPCBs by their very presence and then utilise their expertise in preserving and protecting the environment, including air and water.

“The failure of the State Government to appoint professional and experienced persons to key positions in the SPCBs or the failure to appoint any person at all might incidentally result in an ineffective implementation of the Water Act and the Air Act,” the court observed.

The post of Chairman in GSPCB has been vacant since March 2016 after former chairman Jose Manuel Noronha was transferred as chairman of Goa Public Service Commission. The three-year tenure of the existing GSPCB and its MS Levinson Martins ended in June 2016.