How to File an NGT Complaint Against Pollution in India

If a factory is dumping effluent in your river, a builder is filling a wetland, or trash is being burned beside your home, you can take the polluter to the National Green Tribunal yourself. Any person affected by a substantial environmental question can file an NGT application, even by a simple letter, for a fee of just ₹1,000 when you are not claiming money. You do not need a lawyer and you do not need to be the only one harmed.

The National Green Tribunal, or NGT, is a special court set up under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 to decide environmental disputes quickly. This guide walks you through who can file, the strict six-month deadline, the exact fees, and the online e-filing steps.

The NGT settles civil cases that raise a substantial question relating to environment arising from seven environmental laws listed in Schedule I of the Act. Section 14 gives it this jurisdiction. The Schedule I laws are:

• 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
• The Biological Diversity Act, 2002

In plain terms, the NGT hears complaints about industrial effluent and sewage in water bodies, air pollution and chimney smoke, illegal sand mining, tree felling and forest diversion, construction on wetlands or river floodplains, open waste burning, and damage from hazardous substances. If your grievance is really a service complaint, such as a billing dispute, that belongs elsewhere, not before the NGT.

The NGT is not bound by the rigid procedure of the Code of Civil Procedure. Section 19 of the Act says it shall be guided by the principles of natural justice. That informal approach is why ordinary citizens, and not just lawyers, can approach it.

This is the rule that trips most people. Under Section 14(3), an application will not be entertained unless it is filed within six months from the date on which the cause of action first arose. The Tribunal may allow a further period not exceeding sixty days if you show you were prevented by sufficient cause.

How is the six months counted? From the day the harm or the wrong first happened, or from the day a clearance or order you are challenging was passed. Where the pollution is ongoing, such as a unit discharging effluent every day, each fresh act of pollution can be treated as a continuing cause of action, but do not gamble on that. File as early as you can, attach dated photos and complaint receipts, and never let the six months slip.

NGT fees are low by design, set by Rule 12 of the National Green Tribunal Practices and Procedure Rules, 2011:

• No compensation claimed: a flat fee of ₹1,000. This covers most citizen complaints that only seek to stop the pollution or get the polluter penalised.
• Compensation claimed: a fee equal to 1 per cent of the compensation amount, subject to a minimum of ₹1,000. So a claim of ₹10 lakh carries a ₹10,000 fee.
• Below poverty line or indigent applicant: no fee for a compensation claim, if you fall below the poverty line or are an indigent person under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

The fee is paid by demand draft or Indian Postal Order in favour of the Registrar of the bench, or online through the e-filing portal.

1. Identify the right bench. The NGT has a Principal Bench at New Delhi and four zonal benches at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai. File at the bench whose region covers the place where the pollution is happening.
2. Gather your evidence. Dated photographs and videos, your written complaints to the State Pollution Control Board or municipality and their replies or silence, any RTI replies, news reports, sampling results, and a map or address of the site.
3. Draft the application. State who you are and how you are affected, the substantial environmental question involved, the Schedule I law breached, the facts with dates, the relief you want, and that you are within six months. Number your paragraphs and annex the documents.
4. Letter petition route. If you cannot prepare a full application, you may send a plain letter to the Tribunal setting out the pollution, the location, and what you want done. The NGT can register a citizen letter as an application. Keep it factual and attach proof.
5. Pay the fee of ₹1,000 (or 1 per cent if claiming compensation) by demand draft, postal order, or online.
6. E-file online. Go to the NGT website at greentribunal.gov.in, open the e-filing or Applicant Corner module at ngtonline.nic.in/efiling, register as an individual, and upload your application and documents as PDF or JPEG. You usually also submit hard copies at the bench counter.
7. Note your case number and track the listing date through the portal.

For drafting your complaint to the Pollution Control Board first, our AI RTI Drafter can help you frame a parallel RTI to extract the board's inspection records.

Under Section 15, the Tribunal can provide relief and compensation to victims of pollution and other environmental damage, order restitution of damaged property, and order restitution of the environment of the affected area. In practice it can direct a polluter to stop the activity, shut or seal a unit, pay environmental compensation on the polluter-pays principle, clean up a site, and direct the Pollution Control Board or local body to act and report back.

NGT orders are binding. An order is executable as a decree of a civil court, and disobedience can attract penalties under the Act. If you are still unhappy, Section 22 lets any aggrieved person appeal to the Supreme Court within ninety days of the order being communicated.

Consider Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak, a retired schoolteacher in a small industrial town, who watched a dyeing unit pump coloured effluent into the canal his fields drew water from. He first wrote to the State Pollution Control Board and filed an RTI for its inspection reports. When nothing moved in two months, he filed an NGT application within the six-month window, paid the ₹1,000 fee, and annexed dated photographs and the board's own admission. The Tribunal directed the board to inspect, levied environmental compensation on the unit, and ordered the discharge stopped. He never hired a senior advocate; he argued the early hearings himself.

No. The NGT follows the principles of natural justice under Section 19 and routinely hears applicants in person. A lawyer helps in contested, technical cases, but you can file and argue yourself, especially for a stop-the-pollution application.

File at the bench whose region covers where the pollution is happening. The Principal Bench is at New Delhi and the four zonal benches are at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai. Each covers a group of states.

No. You must identify yourself as the applicant and show how the environmental question affects you or the public. But you do not have to be the only person harmed; any person concerned with the environment can raise a substantial environmental question.

₹1,000 where you do not claim compensation. Where you claim compensation, the fee is 1 per cent of the amount claimed, with a ₹1,000 minimum. Below-poverty-line and indigent applicants pay no fee for a compensation claim.

Yes, and it is strict. Section 14(3) requires filing within six months of the cause of action, with up to sixty extra days only for sufficient cause. File early and keep dated proof.

You can appeal to the Supreme Court under Section 22 within ninety days of the order being communicated to you. The Supreme Court can condone a later filing for sufficient cause.

Yes. Under Section 15 it can order the activity stopped, impose environmental compensation, and direct restitution of the environment. Its orders are executable as a civil court decree, so they carry real teeth.

• Not sure whether the NGT or another regulator is your forum? Use the India complaint routing hub to point your grievance at the right authority.
• File a parallel RTI to the Pollution Control Board for its inspection and sampling records using the AI RTI Drafter, and escalate a stonewalling reply with the First Appeal Builder.
• For the full citizen playbook on holding authorities to account, read The RTI Playbook.

• National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, Sections 14, 15, 18, 19 and 22 (India Code): https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/2025
• NGT (Practices and Procedure) Rules, 2011, Rule 12 (fees): https://indiankanoon.org/doc/70906078/
• National Green Tribunal, official website and benches: https://www.greentribunal.gov.in/about-us
• NGT e-filing module, Applicant Corner: https://ngtonline.nic.in/efiling/mainPage.drt