NGT has space for experts, most of them now are former Govt officers

In contrast, before 2016, only two of the 11 experts were associated with the government’s green clearance process.

This trend raises questions of conflict of interests and propriety as the Tribunal’s appellate jurisdiction covers all government orders, including project clearances issued under the Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986 and the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980. Barring occasional recusals, these members have been adjudicating appeals against decisions they had made themselves while in the government.

Among the 13 expert members appointed since 2016, as many as seven are former Indian Forest Service officers. Of them, three served at the very top of the Environment ministry, and another three retired as head of state forest forces. They are:

• Dr S S Garbyal (January 2016 to January 2021) retired as Environment ministry’s Director General of Forest and Special Secretary in 2015.
• Siddhanta Das (January to July 2020) served as Director General of Forests and Special Secretary in the Environment Ministry until December 2019.
• Saibal Dasgupta (November 2019 to October 2022) served as Director General, Forest Survey of India, and Additional Director General (Forest Conservation) in the Environment ministry until 2019.
• Dr Arun Kumar Verma (April 2021 to August 2025) served as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Gujarat.
• Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi (September 2025 onwards) served as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Gujarat.
• Ishwar Singh (August 2025 onwards) served as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, NCT Delhi.

Five of the remaining six were subject experts, including three who were directly involved with the green clearance process in the ministry as members of the Expert Appraisal Committees (EACs).
Those three are:

• Dr Vijay Kulkarni (December 2021 to October 2025) served as member of the Environment ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committees (EACs) on Construction Projects from 2006 to 2008; and then on Non-Coal Mining Projects from 2009 to 2010. From January 2021 till joining NGT, he was Chairman of Maharashtra’s State Expert Appraisal Committee that appraised industrial, mining, and infrastructure projects for environmental clearance.
• Dr A Senthil Vel (January 2022 onwards) worked in various divisions of the Environment ministry, including Environmental Impact Assessment (EAC).
• Dr Sujit Kumar Bajpayee (September 2025 onwards), a former Environment Officer at NHPC Ltd, who later served as Joint Secretary in the Environment ministry under the Government’s lateral entry scheme and “played a pivotal role in developing the single-window green-clearance portal PARIVESH 2.0.”

Four members appointed since 2016 were not part of the green clearance process. They are former IAS Dr Satyagopal Korlapati, former IFS Dr Nagin Nanda, environmental scientist Dr Afroz Ahmad and former CPCB member-secretary Dr Prashant Gargava.

In comparison, of the 11 expert members appointed between 2011 and 2015, only two were involved in the green clearance process. Bikram Singh Sajwan, former head of forests, Arunachal Pradesh, served in NGT between January 2013 to December 2017. Former Environment secretary Vijai Sharma, one of the architects behind the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, was appointed expert member in NGT in May 2011. Sharma resigned in March 2012 following rumblings of conflict of interest.

While Siddhanta Das, Saibal Dasgupta and Dr Senthil Vel declined to comment, Dr Arun Kumar Verma said: “Being part of the government cannot be a disqualification. But when a case comes up where one was part of the decision-making process, it is customary to recuse oneself.”

Another former member said on condition of anonymity: “As government officers, we don’t take personal decisions but try to do dispassionately what our job demands in different roles. One should, of course, recuse if there is a direct involvement in any case matter.”

Sharma passed away last year. Other NGT members who were part of the government’s clearance process did not respond to requests for comment.

Speaking to The Indian Express, senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan said that government officials have no place in the NGT where expert members should be drawn from civil society. “Appointment of former government officials, who have been part of the decision making process in the (Environment) ministry, to the tribunal constitutes clear conflict of interest and is against the principle of natural justice,” Dhawan said.

Senior advocate Raj Panjwani said that experts are needed to cover the entire gamut of sectoral expertise. “A pollution control board official may not possess the expertise to evaluate forest or CRZ clearance matters. Similarly, a forest officer may not completely grasp the technical issues to adjudge air pollution matters. At full strength with diverse expertise, the NGT can form sector-specific benches and assign cases accordingly,” he said.

The union government appoints the NGT chairperson in direct consultation with the Chief Justice of India, while judicial and expert members are appointed based onthe recommendations of a selection committee that screens applications.

The first selection committee for NGT members set up in 2011 had a SC judge nominated by the CJI, the NGT chairperson, the Environment secretary, directors of IIT Kanpur and IIM Ahmedabad and president of Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.

Following the enactment of the Tribunals Reforms Act 2021, the selection committee for NGT members comprises the CJI or a nominated SC judge as chairperson, two government of India secretaries nominated by the centre, the sitting chairperson of the NGT and the Environment secretary as the member-secretary (without vote).