How do I file a complaint with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) over pollution or environmental damage?

Under Section 14 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, the Tribunal has jurisdiction over civil cases that involve a "substantial question relating to environment" arising out of the implementation of the enactments listed in Schedule I of the Act: the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977; the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981; the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991; and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. In practice this covers industrial and vehicular pollution, illegal mining and sand extraction, unauthorised forest or tree felling, wetland and coastal zone violations, improper waste and effluent disposal, and large construction or infrastructure projects that bypass environmental clearance.

Separately, Section 16 gives the Tribunal appellate jurisdiction — you can directly challenge an order or direction passed by the MoEFCC, a State Pollution Control Board, the CPCB, a State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, or the National Biodiversity Authority, instead of (or in addition to) filing a fresh original application.

The NGT is not a substitute for criminal prosecution — offences under these Acts are still tried by criminal courts — and it will decline matters that are purely about land title, contract, or civil rights with no real environmental question attached. The Supreme Court has also confirmed, in Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai v. Ankita Sinha (2021), that the Tribunal can take up serious violations suo motu on its own, based on media reports or letters, even without a formal application — though it must still give an affected party a hearing before passing an adverse order.

Any person aggrieved can file — an individual resident, a group of residents, an RWA, an environmental NGO, or a company — and, as above, the Tribunal itself can act suo motu in serious cases. You do not need to show you are personally injured; a credible environmental concern is generally enough standing.

Limitation periods differ by the type of claim:

• Original application under Section 14 (stopping or remedying a violation): 6 months from the date the cause of action first arose, extendable by a further 60 days if you show sufficient cause for the delay — beyond that, the claim is time-barred.
• Compensation or restitution claim under Section 15 (for pollution damage, health harm, or property loss): 5 years from the date the cause for compensation arose, with the same 60-day condonation window.
• Appeal under Section 16 against an order of an authority such as SPCB/CPCB: 30 days from communication of the order, extendable by 60 more days — 90 days is the absolute outer limit, after which the Tribunal cannot condone further delay.

The prescribed court fee for a non-compensation original application is ₹1,000 per applicant; applications seeking compensation attract an additional, claim-value-linked fee under the NGT (Practices and Procedure) Rules, 2011. Fee amounts and the accepted payment method (demand draft, IPO, or the Tribunal's e-filing portal) have changed over the years, so confirm the current figure and process on the NGT website before filing.

Applications are filed in the format prescribed by Rule 8 of the National Green Tribunal (Practices and Procedure) Rules, 2011 — commonly referred to as Form I — which calls for: your name and address; a complete description of the facts and the environmental violation; the specific relief sought; the opposite parties (the polluter, plus the regulator where relevant); and supporting documents such as photographs, pollution readings, expert or lab reports, RTI replies, and correspondence with the regulator. Applications can be filed in person, by post, or through the Tribunal's online e-filing facility.

You file at the Principal Bench in New Delhi or at the zonal bench with territorial jurisdiction over your state — the Central Zone (Bhopal), Western Zone (Pune), Eastern Zone (Kolkata), or Southern Zone (Chennai). Filing at the wrong bench is not fatal; the Tribunal can transfer the matter, though it is faster to check jurisdiction first.

Because the Tribunal combines judicial and technical expert members and is not strictly bound by the Civil Procedure Code (Section 19), it can move quickly on interim relief — staying construction or operations, ordering a joint inspection or an expert committee report, directing a polluting unit to stop discharge pending final orders, or granting interim compensation — often within days of an urgent application, subject to giving the other side a hearing. High-profile examples include the closure order against the Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadu and repeated NCR construction bans during severe pollution episodes.

The Tribunal is directed to try to dispose of applications and appeals within 6 months of filing, though complex matters with expert evidence often run longer. Final remedies can include restoration of the damaged environment, compensation to victims, closure or relocation of the polluting activity, and punitive damages under the polluter-pays principle.

If you are unhappy with the outcome — whether you are the applicant or the party against whom the order is passed — the remedy is an appeal to the Supreme Court of India under Section 22 of the NGT Act, not to a High Court. The limitation period is 30 days from communication of the order, extendable by a further 60 days on sufficient cause, making 90 days the absolute outer limit. Given the technical record built up before the Tribunal — expert reports, site inspection findings, emission or effluent data — it is worth engaging a lawyer with specific NGT experience both to file the original application and to handle any appeal.

For related nuisances that may not need a full NGT filing, see our guides on complaining about air pollution or noise and tree-cutting permission rules; where the issue is broader government inaction rather than a specific polluter, a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court is sometimes a parallel option.

• Complaining about air pollution or noise from a neighbour or factory
• Can I cut a tree on my own private property?
• What is a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and can I file one?