Question

The First Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) was?
A. Justice A.S. Naidu
B. Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta
C. Justice Markandey Katju
D. Justice A K Ganguly

Answer 1

Hint: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is a statutory body that was established in 2010 by the National Green Tribunal Act. It was established to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues.

Complete answer:
Justice A.S. Naidu was born at Puri, Odisha in the year of 1948. He was also appointed as Additional Government Advocate for the State of Odisha in the year 2000. He served as the Judge of Odisha High Court from the year 2000 to 2010. Hence, ‘option A’ is incorrect.
Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta was born in the district of Shimla in the year of 1944. He was appointed as Deputy Advocate General of Himachal Pradesh in 1980. Later, he was appointed as Additional Judge of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh in 1991 and became the permanent Judge in 1995. He also served as a Judge in the Supreme Court of India till the year 2009. After retirement, he was appointed him as the first Chairperson of the newly founded National Green Tribunal, in the year 2010.
Justice Markandey Katju was born in Lucknow in 1946. He was appointed as acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court in 2004. Later, he served as Chief Justice of Madras High Court in 2004, and Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in 2005. He was then elevated to the Supreme Court of India in 2006, from which he retired in 2011, after having served in the judiciary for nearly 40 years. Later, he served as the Chairman of the Press Council of India for three years. He is currently serving as Lokayukta, Himachal Pradesh since 2012. Hence, ‘option C’ is incorrect.
Justice A K Ganguly was born in 1947. He served as Chief Justice of Orissa in 2007. He joined Madras High Court as Chief Justice in 2008. Later he served as a Judge in the Supreme Court of India in 2008 and remained in the apex court for more than 3 years. In his tenure, he delivered judgement in some high-profile cases like the 2G spectrum case. He retired in the year 2012. Post his retirement, Ganguly worked as Chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission. Hence, ‘option D’ is incorrect.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: The Principal Bench of the NGT is in New Delhi. It has many regional benches in Kolkata (East), Pune (West), Bhopal (Central) and Chennai (South). Each bench of the NGT will comprise at least one Judicial Member who should be retired Judges of High Courts and one Expert Member who should have at least 15 years of experience in the field of environment or forest conservation.