The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has held that any citizen can approach it for protection of environment, regardless of whether he is directly affected by a developmental project or whether he is a resident of the affected area.
"In environmental issues, any individual or any body of individuals can agitate as to the correctness of the study on environment and ecology made by the authority giving clearance to the project," said an NGT bench of Justice C V Ramulu and member Devendra Kumar Agrawal.
"It may also not be proper for this tribunal to reject an application on the ground that applicant is not a resident of the area or not directly injured or aggrieved.
The NGT ruling came on a plea by three environmentalists challenging the environment clearance given for deforestation of 80.5 hectares of government forest land for construction of a dam for hydroelectric power across river Alakhnanda in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand
