Orwellian ethos of National Green Tribunal

If George Orwell’s allegorical literary masterpiece Animal Farm were adapted to the recent context of India’s National Green Tribunal with Mr. Swatenter Kumar at its helm, the central tenet would read something like — Power wields and absolute power wields absolutely.

Most recent example of NGT unilaterally wielding its power is seen in its irrational restrain on select diesel vehicles. Accordingly, NGT mandated transportation authorities in NCR region to deregister and impound diesel vehicles older than 10 years and ban registration of new luxury cars with engine capacity of more than 2000cc.

There are wide logic gaps in such an ordinance. A recent study establishes that not the vehicles but industrial emissions and road dust are the major source of particulate matter air pollution. Another study demonstrates that there is no link between engine capacity and emission levels. A recent report from IIT Kanpur also indicates that out of various sources of pollution, affected vehicles under proposed act contribute less than 2.5% of total pollutants.

Just recently Toyota submitted a report indicating that such a law if passed will be a corporate death penalty. Japanese automaker that has invested 1200 crores in hi-tech diesel engine project in Karnataka clearly has a reason to be concerned. But beyond that, a sudden change of rules — which may likely be reversed anyways — in middle of the game does not send a welcome signal to foreign manufacturers looking to setup base in India.

In another instance, NGT issued a widespread construction ban over a vast stretch of NCR geography. A blanket ban delivered in a vague language played out in such an asymmetric fashion that tardy developers found a reason to justify their delays whereas clean and compliant developers got punished. Instead of painting everyone with a broad brush, NGT could have identified the precise sources of pollution and nabbed the ones truly guilty.

Pollution is undoubtedly a major problem in the country. However, dealing with this multi headed monster requires a holistic approach that is beyond treating symptoms. It starts with government making serious investments in pollution control equipment and related technology like how China has systematically approached its paranormal pollution levels resulting from fast paced growth. Half-baked and abrupt measures will only contribute to negative externality.

Yet another example where NGT jumped the gun is when it’s expert committee proposed a 120 crore penalty to the Art of Living foundation for damaging Yamuna flood plains. The World Culture Festival brought together over 3.7 million people from over 150 countries. While there was no scientific assessment for such a penalty, the real egg on NGT’s face was a letter that was made public recently. The letter was drafted by the chief of expert committee to Mr. Kumar. The chief of the committee clearly said that he did not agree with this tentative number and that it got recommended inadvertently. Despite such a candid admission by the NGT appointee overseeing a panel of experts, Mr. Kumar chose to ignore it and steam rolled ahead. The admittedly unscientific call taken by NGT in this matter has left a negative impression of the country in minds of all the dignitaries and visitors, many of them who came to India for the first time to participate in this cultural Olympics.

Illegal construction on the Yamuna flood plains is extremely rampant. Even though such illegalities are obvious from satellite images, little or no action is taken against the perpetrators.

There was another situation in recent past whereby allegations of sexual abuse on Mr. Kumar from one of his interns met with an unprecedented display of legal brawn. Within no time, Delhi High Court issued a gag order, preventing any media outlet from publishing or broadcasting the matter. When President Clinton was not granted such a privilege, why should Mr. Kumar in a country of free speech be granted such immunity from media coverage? Animal Farm has an answer to that question too. Paraphrasing Orwell — All men are created equal but some men are created more equal than the others!

While Mr. Swatenter Kumar went running to the Courts to prevent the media from reporting his personal case, he makes no attempt to take any action when the media incorrectly writes about orders passed by him in environmental cases. In the Art of Living case, he made no attempt to stop the media from blatantly reporting that the Art of Living had been fined when actually no fine had been imposed. I wonder if Mr. Kumar and Co. are more interested in playing to the galleries by making sensational statements and by passing sweeping controversial orders — however much unscientific they may be — just to attract media glare.

As a foreign national, a Make In India investor and someone who deeply cares about the country, I cannot but draw parallels between Mr. Swatenter Kumar and Co.’s way of dealing with issues in present context and vanguard ways of Stalin during communist era. Those were some gray times ripe with judicial terror and cult of personality in leadership. A naive extrapolation could give us a glimpse of where it may all be headed but the fundamental concern is the collateral damage created along the way.