In the understaffed NGT, Centre appoints 2 judicial members and 4 new expert members
The Centre's order, dated August 11, also ended with immediate effect the extended tenure of two judicial members – Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice B.Amit Sthalekar, and two expert members, K Satyagopal and Arun Kumar Verma.
Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, former judge, Delhi High Court, and presently a member of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC); and Justice Umesh Chandra Sharma, former judge of Allahabad High Court and currently a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal, Chandigarh, are the two new judicial members.
Out of the four new expert members, two are Indian Forest Service Officers – Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi, retired principal chief conservator of forest, Gujarat, and Ishwar Singh, retired principal chief conservator of forest, Delhi. The other two are Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, currently a member of the Commission for Air Quality Management and former joint secretary, Environment Ministry, and Prashant Gargava, former member secretary, Central Pollution Control Board.
It has not been specified when the new judicial and expert members will take charge, and their exact place of assignment is also not clear. S Vineeta, Registrar General, NGT, was not available for a comment on the appointments.
Section 4(1) of the NGT Act, 2010, states that the Tribunal shall consist of not less than 10 but a maximum of 20 full-time judicial members and the same number of expert members. Until the Centre's latest order, NGT had only five expert members and six judicial members. Now, a strength of six judicial members will continue, and there will be seven expert members.
The NGT has five benches – Principal bench (Delhi), Eastern zone (Kolkata), Western Zone (Pune), Southern Zone (Chennai) and Central Zone (Bhopal).
Since Monday, August 12, chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava has been virtually hearing cases listed before the Kolkata bench, along with expert member Senthil Vel.
The Supreme Court has, in previous orders, granted tenure extension to three judicial members and two expert members of NGT, given the vacancies and continuing search and selection process. On January 16, 2023, a bench headed by former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ordered that Justice Sheo Kumar Singh, judicial member of the Bhopal bench of NGT, will continue until the selection process for new judicial members is completed.
Justice Singh's tenure in Bhopal will end immediately after a newly appointed judicial member assumes charge.
Similarly, on April 3, a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh ordered the extension of tenure for two judicial members and two expert members of the NGT. This allowed judicial members Justice Agarwal and Justice Sthalekar, and expert members K Satyagopal and Verma to continue. All were due to retire in April.
Under the NGT Act and as per appointment norms, a judicial member is appointed for five years or till he attains the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier. Justice Singh was due to demit office in 2023; however, he was granted an extension and was also briefly acting chairperson of the NGT until the present chairperson, Justice Prakash Shrivastava, was appointed.
A judicial member should be a former judge of the High Court, or a district or additional district judge for 10 years or an advocate with substantial experience in environmental litigation matters before NGT, HC, or SC.
Meanwhile, expert members are supposed to have a degree or a Master's in science with 25 years of experience in the relevant field, and five years of practical experience in the field of environment and forests in a reputed national institution. Former state or Central Government officials are eligible for this role.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business Standard
Two-slab 'Next Gen GST' to pay way for single tax rate by 2047: Centre
Describing the proposed GST tax reforms as Next Gen GST', senior government officials on Saturday said that the two-slab tax regime will eventually pave the way for a single sales/services tax rate, hopefully by 2047. They said the proposed new GST regime, which slashes tax rates and assigns just two slabs of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, will boost the economy and also serve to mitigate tariff threats. The proposed two-slab regime, if approved by the GST Council, will replace the current four slabs in the goods and services tax (GST) regime, doing away with the 12 per cent and 28 per cent slabs. Calling it the "next Gen GST', one government official said "it is a game changer reform. In the pantheon of economic reforms seen in India, it's right up there." The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. They said the new structure would mean that almost all of the common use items will move to the lower tax bracket, leading to price cuts, which in turn would boost consumption. "Lower taxes means it will put more money in people's pockets. It will obviously lead to more consumption," the official said. The Centre's proposal for a 5 and 18 per cent tax rate on merit and standard goods and a 40 per cent tax for sin goods, has been a large canvas exercise to ensure stability in tax rates, the officials said, explaining the rationale behind the exercise. The changes that have come about after nearly six months of deliberations and dozens of meetings, have been conceived in a way so as to ensure that demand for tax tweaks do not come and also input tax credit (ITC) do not get accumulated in the system. Once the Centre's proposal is accepted by the Group of Ministers (GoM) and is approved by the GST Council, it will end the flux of tax rates and ensure stability, the officials said. What we have suggested is a Next Gen GST' keeping the needs of the middle class, poor, farmers, and MSMEs in mind. Also, it has been ensured that tax on daily use items are low, the official told PTI. "Once the system is put in place and India becomes a developed nation, we can think about a single rate GST," said the official, adding that a single rate structure is suitable for developed countries where income and spending capacities are uniform. The ultimate aim is to move to a single slab structure, the official said, adding that the time, however, is not right at present. The official said that during the process of overhaul, every due process is being followed. The Centre has taken the steering role but is protecting constitutional obligations by sharing it with the Group of Ministers (GoM) on rate rationalisation. "We have looked at every item, item by item and in some cases we have gone back and forth 3-4 times. Whether it is pesticide for use by farmers or pencils for students or some raw material or intermediaries for MSMEs, every item has been discussed threadbare and categorised in the merit or standard slab, the official added. As many as 99 per cent of the items in the 12 per cent category such as butter, fruit juices and dry fruits would move to 5 per cent tax rate. Similarly, electronic items like ACs, TVs, fridges, and washing machines as well as other goods like cement will be among the 90 per cent of the items that would move from 28 per cent to lower 18 per cent slab. The move comes after US President Donald Trump slapped a 25 per cent tariff on all goods India exports to the US, and planned doubling of the levy to 50 per cent from August 27 to punish New Delhi for its oil purchases from Russia. The tariffs are likely to impact USD 40-billion of non-exempt Indian exports such as that of gems and jewellery, textiles and footwear. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address to the nation on Friday emphasised that India should become self-reliant and consume what is made in India. The tax slabs that the Union Finance Ministry has proposed will go to a group of ministers from different states and after their concurrence will be placed before the all-powerful GST Council, which is headed by Union Finance Minister and comprises representatives of all states and UTs. The Council is expected to meet next month to deliberate on the tax reform proposal. About 20 per cent of items, including packaged food and beverages, apparel and hotel accommodation currently are taxed at 12 per cent GST and accounts for 5-10 per cent of consumption and 5-6 per cent GST revenue. Moving them to a lower 5 per cent slab may lead to loss of revenue but the Central government is hopeful that a boost in consumption would be able to make up for the deficit in the next few months. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
Centre Proposes GST Reforms, Congress Demands Discussion Paper
The Congress has called for an official discussion paper on GST 2.0 soon, a demand that comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised that "next-generation" reforms will be introduced by Diwali, assuring a massive reduction in taxes on common-use items. The Centre has now unveiled a three-pillar blueprint for the reforms that has been sent to the Group of Ministers for further discussions. Show Full
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
'GST 2.0 game changer, will lead to single tax rate': Government sources; call out Congress 'hypocrisy' for claiming credit
N EW DELHI: The Goods and Services (GST) 2.0 is set to be a "game changer" subsequently leading to a single tax rate, news agency PTI reported citing government sources on Saturday. It further slammed the Congress party's "hypocrisy" for claiming credit for the reforms saying it "was not even present when landmark GST law was passed in 2017". Congress leaders have contended that the Centre was only now moving on a reform they had been advocating for years. Citing Rahul Gandhi's 2018 posts and videos calling for GST changes and a cap at 18%, the party argued that PM Modi's announcement merely confirmed its long-standing criticism of the existing structure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address promised a Diwali gift for the citizens in the form of GST reforms and lower tax burden. "This Diwali, I am going to make it a double Diwali for you... Over the past eight years, we have undertaken a major reform in GST... We are bringing next-generation GST reforms. This will reduce the tax burden across the country,' he said. Following this, the Centre rolled out a draft blueprint for GST 2.0, proposing two primary slabs, 5% for essential items and 18% for most other goods, in an effort to simplify the system and ease compliance for both citizens and businesses. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Retro Lanterns: A Halloween Staple topgadgetlife Shop Now Undo The overhaul plan, set to be reviewed by a group of state finance ministers on Thursday, suggested scrapping the existing 12% and 28% rates, phasing out the compensation cess before the March deadline, and imposing a 40% levy on sin goods. The current GST framework has five main slabs, nil, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, with additional rates of 0.25% and 3% applied to precious metals. At present, roughly 21% of all goods fall under the 5% bracket.
