Chennai, April 9(BPNS)

The first bench of the Madras High Court on Friday stayed the appointment of former Chief secretary of Tamil Nadu, Girija Vaidyanathan as an expert member of National Green Tribunal (NGT). The stay order was passed following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by environment conservation NGO, Poovulagin Nanbargal challenging the appointment.

The bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthil Ramamoorthy  while passing order said “We are not happy at the qualifications of the person who has been appointed as a member of the Tribunal”.

The petitioner has prayed before the court that according to NGT act a minimum experience of 15 years including 5 years in dealing with environmental matters. The NGO in its pray alleged that Girija Vaidyanathan, does not poccess five year experience in associating with environmental matters.

The petitioner said “ 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 with a minimum of five years of experience in dealing with environmental matters in state or central government or an institution of repute at the state or national level.”

The NGO in its prayer pointed out that Girija Vaidyanathan did not process a five years experience in handling environmental related matters at the state or national level according to her biodata present in the website of the ministry of personal, Government of Inida.

The NGO wanted the court to intervene and to quash the appointment of Girjia Vaidyanathan as Expert member, National Green Tribunal(NGT).