The Delhi government may consider hiring an environmental expert from outside the government to head the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), according to sources. This development comes after the government was rapped by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) last week over the ad-hoc arrangement of appointing the Delhi environment secretary as DPCC chief.
A Vacation Bench of the NGT has given the government three months to appoint a new chairperson.
A senior government official said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was studying Section 5 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, which pertains to the constitution of pollution control boards.
‘Person with knowledge’
As per the section, the chairperson of the State Board should be “a person having special knowledge or practical experience relating to environmental protection, to be nominated by the State government”.
The senior official said that the government could look at candidates not necessarily within the government. Another official confirmed that the government was studying the provision.
Delhi is not alone in facing the NGT’s ire on the matter. In August 2016, the NGT had passed an order directing all States to fill vacancies in their pollution control boards within three months. NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar had said that the posts of chairperson and member secretary should be opened up to all candidates, whether they are in the government, academia or private sector.
However, the Vacation Bench of the NGT was forced to pull up the Delhi government last week, even as the government maintained that it had acted on the previous order, but was waiting for a nod from the Central Pollution Control Board.