Justice Prakash Shrivastava, the former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court take oath as the new Chairperson of the National Green Tribunal in the presence of all the members of the principal and zonal benches.
The bench of Justice Shrivastava stated while highlighting the constitutional safeguards that the Right to healthy environment has been construed as a part of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
It has been added by the chairperson that the powers which have been conferred upon the NGT are very wide. Thus, greater the power, greater is the responsibility to ensure that powers are being used and utilised for achieving the object and purpose of the Act.
Further, it has been stated by Justice Shrivastava that the environmental issues mainly arise on account of the conflict between the developmental activities and their adverse impact on environment. Thus, the balance approach is required for ensuring sustainable development and as the Chairman of the NGT my effort will be to consider the issues raised before the Tribunal in such a manner that the object with which the Tribunal has been constituted is fully achieved.
Justice Srivastav was being enrolled as an advocate on 02.02.1987. Justice Srivastav practiced in tax, civil, and constitutional law at the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi.
Later, Justice Prakash Shrivastava was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh on 18.01.2008, and subsequently he became the permanent Judge on 15.01.2010. Justice Srivastav took the oath as the Chief Justice of the High Court at Calcutta in the year 2021 and he got retired in March of this year.
