KOCHI: The National Green Tribunal has issued showcause notices to a slew of state governments for their failure to comply with its order for streamlining appointments of state pollution control board chairpersons and member secretaries including the limiting the tenure of the chairperson to one term. The order issued on May 30 has asked the state chief secretaries and pollution control boards to submit their replies within a week to the tribunal. The matter has been posted for hearing for June 7. The NGT has ordered a streamlining of the appointments in an order issued on September 2016 and directed the pollution control boards to take appropriate measures to implement the same within three months.
Although nine months have passed since the order was passed, none of the boards complied with the 11-point guidelines issued by the NGT. This has infuriated the tribunal to issue the show-cause notice to the state governments on May 30. “We do not expect the state government not take action on the orders of the Tribunal and to flout the directions issued by it, particularly in relation to posts of such sensitivity and responsibility, as the entire environmental status of the state would depend on the functioning of the state pollution control board wherein the chairman and member secretary are the head of the organization”, the order said. The order has significance for Kerala as the present Chairman of Kerala State Pollution Control Board K Sajivan has already completed seven years in his capacity as chairman.
