Excellent, India creates environmental court
India creates new court to try environmental cases
Polluters beware: India has created a tribunal to punish those who sully the forests or rivers or otherwise break its environmental laws _ in the hopes of clearing a backlog of some 5,000 such cases languishing in a sluggish court system.
India’s judicial system is marred by crammed dockets, rampant corruption and a lack of transparency, but Tuesday’s announcement makes it only the third country to set up a separate judiciary for environmental cases, after Australia and New Zealand, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said.
“We have taken a giant step forward in having a tribunal to take quick decisions on behalf of the people of India,” Ramesh said.
Once up and running, the National Green Tribunal can order polluters to pay civil damages in any amount instead of the previous 25,000 rupee ($564) liability.</em>
Lets try it here…oh, wait. That would be “bad for business”.
