HC stays ex-chief secy’s appointment as NGT member

HC stays ex-chief secy’s appointment as NGT member

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.04.2021

Expressing unhappiness over the appointment of former Tamil Nadu chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan as an expert member of the National Green Tribunal, the Madras high court on Friday stayed the appointment.

“We are not happy with the qualifications of the person who has been appointed as an expert member of the tribunal,” the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said.

When the court was informed that she was due to assume charge on April 19, the court said there would be a stay of the appointment till disposal of the case.

“It is possible that the former chief secretary may have dealt with environmental matters in course of the various departments that she headed during her tenure, but it is both necessary for her to indicate the same for the court to be satisfied that the statutory eligibility criteria in such regard is met by her,” the court said.

The bench was passing orders on a public interest writ petition filed by environment conservation NGO Poovulagin Nanbargal, challenging Girija Vaidyanathan’s appointment.

There may be an element of discussion on what may amount to dealing with environmental matters, but the selection committee would not have exercised any discretion to relax the eligibility criterion in derogation of the statutory requirement, the bench said.

According to the petitioner-organisation, the NGT Act prescribes a minimum of administrative experience of 15 years, including five years in dealing with environmental matters in the central or a state government. But in violation of the provision, Girija Vaidyanathan who does not possess five-year experience in handling environmental matters has been appointed to the post, the NGO alleged.

“Section 5 (2) (b) of the NGT Act says that a person shall not be qualified for appointment as an expert member unless they have administrative experience of 15 years, including experience of five years in dealing with environmental matters in central or a state government or in a reputed national or state level institution,” the petitioner said. However, Girija who has been selected for appointment to the post has not possessed an experience of five years in dealing with environmental matters as could be seen from her complete bio data found in the official website of the union ministry of personnel, the NGO added. Therefore, it wanted the court to call for the records pertaining to her appointment dated December 12 issued by the union government and quash the same.