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Techi Tagi Tara v. Rajendra Singh Bhandari & Ors. (batch of 13 connected appeals)

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 986Decided 22 Sept 2017
Civil Appeal No. 1359 of 2017
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Deepak Gupta

Background

This batch of appeals challenged a judgment of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) which had expressed anguish that several persons appointed as Chairpersons or Members of various State Pollution Control Boards lacked the necessary environmental expertise or qualifications for these specialised statutory roles, and had passed directions accordingly. The Supreme Court examined the broader, recurring problem of States appointing bureaucrats or political functionaries, rather than environmental professionals, to these regulatory bodies, citing a 2013 Tata Institute of Social Sciences report documenting numerous such appointments across different states in apparent violation of earlier court guidelines.

Decision Breakdown

The Court agreed that the lack of professional, qualified appointees to SPCBs was a serious and persistent problem undermining the bodies' purpose of protecting the environment, but held that the NGT ought to have exercised more restraint rather than intervening the way it did. While setting aside the NGT's judgment and order, the Court directed the Executive in all States to frame appropriate guidelines or recruitment rules within six months, taking into account statutory requirements, prior case law, and expert committee reports, to ensure that genuinely suitable professionals are appointed to SPCBs going forward. It further clarified that public-spirited individuals remain free to approach the appropriate High Court for a writ of quo warranto against any sitting SPCB Chairperson or Member who does not meet the statutory or constitutional qualifications.

Lesson Learnt

Appointments to specialised regulatory bodies like Pollution Control Boards must be grounded in genuine subject-matter expertise, not political or bureaucratic convenience; ordinary citizens have a real legal remedy, a writ of quo warranto in the High Court, to challenge an unqualified person holding such a public office.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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