Mahendra Pandey v. Union of India

Summary:

On July 23, 2015, the NGT directed all states to expeditiously draft their action plans on climate change in according with the Centre’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and have them approved by the Environment Ministry. Despite this direction, the Delhi state government failed to draft, finalize and implement the State Action Plan on Climate Change on the lines and the spirit of the NAPCC. The applicant, Mahendra Pandey, a scientist, contended that the Delhi government claimed to have formulated a Climate Change Agenda for the national capital in 2009. However, the Agenda expired in 2012 and since then Delhi has no Action Plan on Climate Change.

Accordingly, the NGT issued notices to the Delhi government to place on record relevant material and documents relating to steps taken by it in order to implement Action Plan on Climate Change. Consequently, the Delhi government prepared and submitted the climate action plan to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for approval. On January 2, 2019, the NGT directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to finalize the climate change action plan within four weeks.

At Issue: Formulation and implementation of Delhi climate action plan.