Jurisdictional boundaries and limitations of the National Green Tribunal

The National Green Tribunal possesses specialized jurisdiction restricted exclusively to civil cases involving substantial questions relating to the environment arising out of specific enactments specified in Schedule I of its governing statute. Every dispute concerning building plan deviations, land use conversions, or contractual disagreements between residents and developers cannot be converted into an environmental question to invoke the tribunal's powers. When matters relating to planning permissions and structural layouts are actively sub judice before competent civil and constitutional courts, the tribunal must avoid parallel adjudication on overlapping issues. Entertaining peripheral grievances outside its core environmental mandate leads to jurisdictional overreach and conflicting parallel determinations. (Raj Singh Gehlot & Ors. v. Amitabha Sen & Ors. | 2026 INSC 77)