How to File a Case in the NGT: A Step-by-Step Guide

You file a case in the National Green Tribunal by preparing a written application (an Original Application) or an appeal, attaching your evidence, paying the court fee and lodging it with the right bench, usually online through the NGT e-filing system. You can file and argue it yourself, without a lawyer. What decides the result is rarely the paperwork. It is whether you picked the right type of case, filed within time, named the right authorities and backed every claim with documents.

This guide follows the order you will face things in: application or appeal, whether a letter is enough, which bench, what evidence, who to make a party, what it costs and what gets cases thrown out. If you are unsure whether the tribunal can hear your problem at all, read can the NGT hear my case first.

We handle NGT matters at every bench from our offices in Dwarka and Vaishali, and our NGT case filing service is there if you want help. Most of what follows, though, is meant to let you judge your own case before you spend anything.

The essentials

How do I file a case in the NGT? Can I file it myself without a lawyer?

Yes, you can file it yourself. A party may appear in person, and section 19 frees the tribunal from the Code of Civil Procedure, so it is less formal than a civil court. Residents, farmers, RWA office bearers and small factory owners argue their own cases every week, and the bench hears them patiently when the papers are clear.

The path is the same for everyone. Decide whether your matter is an Original Application or an Appeal, draft it with the facts, the law broken and the relief you want, attach your evidence, pay the fee and file it with the correct bench. The registry checks it, points out defects, numbers it and lists it for hearing.

People rarely fail on the form. They fail on judgment calls: whether the problem is a substantial environmental question or a private quarrel, whether time has run out, which authority should have been named, and how to answer a joint committee report that misses the point. Doing it yourself works for a clear, well documented pollution problem affecting many people. Appeals against board orders, compensation claims, cases against large companies and anything near the time limit are where a lawyer earns their keep. Some clients draft themselves and engage us only to review the draft or argue the first hearing, with fees agreed in writing, stage by stage.

Original Application or Appeal: which one is yours?

Ask one question: is there an order you are unhappy with, or a problem nobody has dealt with? Filing under the wrong head is one of the commonest reasons a case starts badly.

If there is a problem, such as a dyeing unit pouring effluent into a drain, a stone crusher choking a village with dust, a builder working without environmental clearance or a society STP that never ran, you file an Original Application. Section 14 covers civil disputes raising a substantial environmental question under the seven Acts in Schedule I, including the Water Act, the Air Act and the Environment (Protection) Act. Rules under the EP Act count, so noise, garbage dumping, construction dust, hazardous waste and EC violations all qualify. Section 15 is the route when you also want compensation or restoration for damage already done: lost crops, a poisoned borewell, a damaged water body.

If there is an order, you file an Appeal under section 16. That covers board directions under Water Act section 33A or Air Act section 31A (closure, power or water disconnection), directions under EP Act section 5, orders of the state appellate authority, and orders granting or refusing environmental clearance. Industries and builders file most appeals, but a resident can also appeal, say against an EC granted to a project next door. Our page on appealing a pollution board's order covers that side.

One trap catches many factory owners. If the board refuses consent to establish or operate, or attaches conditions you cannot meet, the first appeal lies to the state appellate authority under Water Act section 28 or Air Act section 31, within 30 days. Only its order goes to the NGT. Advocate B.K. Singh's first check on any new NGT matter is the same: is there an order to appeal, or a problem nobody has dealt with, because that decides the section, the time limit and the format.

Application and appeal compared

In a continuing pollution case, when the cause of action first arose is itself a matter of argument. If you are near or past the limit, read NGT time limit: is it too late before drafting.

Who can file a case in the NGT?

Can I just send a letter or email to the NGT?

Sometimes. The NGT accepts letter petitions that bring substantial environmental damage to light, and it has taken up matters on its own (suo motu) from letters and news reports. A short, factual letter about a river turning black below an industrial area, illegal mining of a riverbed or a landfill fire burning for weeks can become a case.

But a letter is not a right to be heard. The tribunal decides whether to take it up, and most letters about one factory or one noisy neighbour are never registered. Even when one is, the case may run without you: the bench calls for a board report, issues directions and closes it, and you never get to say the report is wrong.

A letter suits large, visible damage affecting many people, when you cannot manage a full application and are content for the tribunal to run with it. For a local problem, specific directions, a polluter who will fight back, or compensation, file a proper application. It gives you a case number, notice to every respondent, a right to reply and a right to object to inspection reports.

If you write, keep it to two or three pages: exact location with village, tehsil and district, what is happening and since when, whom you have complained to, and a few dated photos. Send it to the bench for your state, not to five benches and three ministries at once.

Can I file online? Which bench do I file in?

Yes. The NGT's e-filing system on its website lets you register, upload the application and annexures as PDFs, pay the fee and cure defects without visiting the registry. The tribunal also hears matters by video conferencing, so a villager in Bihar can argue before the Kolkata bench from home.

The bench depends on where the cause of action arose, meaning where the harm is happening or where the order you challenge operates. The Principal Bench in New Delhi doubles as the northern zone. The zonal benches are at Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai.

A wrong bench is not fatal, but it costs weeks while the file is returned or transferred. If a project spans two states, file where the main harm is felt and say why. Our NGT zonal benches page has more detail.

Which NGT bench covers your state

Should I complain to the pollution board first?

Usually, yes. It is not always a legal requirement, but the bench's first question is what the authorities did when you told them. An application showing the board, DM and municipal corporation were told months ago and did nothing reads very differently from one where the tribunal is the first door you knocked on. Without that history, the bench may simply send your complaint to the board and close the case.

Write to the State Board (DPCC, UPPCB, HSPCB and so on), the DM or SDM and the municipal body, by email and registered post, and keep the proof. File an RTI asking what action was taken, whether the unit holds valid consent, and for any inspection or sample report. A reply within 30 days, or silence, becomes evidence. Our guide on pollution near your home covers this stage, and our pollution complaint service can draft the letters. If your six months are running out, file anyway and list the complaints made.

What documents and evidence do I need? Photos, videos, RTI replies, complaints already made to the board?

All of those, and the more specific the better. The NGT decides most cases on documents, so your annexures are your witnesses, and a bench reading forty files a day looks at your photos before your paragraphs.

Photos and videos should show the source, not just the effect: the outlet pipe, the chimney, the dumper unloading, the DG set running, with date, time and location. Shoot over several days to show the problem continues, and keep the original files.

Official papers carry the most weight: RTI replies, board inspection and sample reports, the unit's consent order or proof it has none, the EC letter for a building project, municipal notices, police complaints and earlier orders on the same site. For compensation under section 15, add proof of loss: medical records, crop loss assessments, an accredited lab's borewell test, property valuation. A claim with no proof of amount usually ends in general directions.

Documents to attach to an NGT application

Who should I make a party to the case?

Name everyone whose action or inaction you complain about, and everyone the tribunal will need to direct. Leave out the polluter and no order binds them. Leave out the authorities and nobody can be told to inspect, close or monitor.

A typical list is the State Pollution Control Board (or DPCC), the CPCB, the District Magistrate, the municipal corporation or local body, and the polluting unit or builder. Add the SEIAA where an environmental clearance is in issue, the Central Ground Water Authority or state groundwater authority for illegal extraction, and the forest department for tree felling.

Do not overdo it: adding every ministry delays service and irritates the bench. Give a full, current address for each respondent; a wrong address for the polluter can cost you a hearing date.

How should an NGT application be structured?

Three working parts: the facts, the law broken and the relief sought. Keep it short. Twenty clear pages beat eighty pages of repeated grievances.

Facts. Who you are, where the site is, what is happening and since when, whom it affects, and what you did about it. Write in date order, each paragraph pointing to the annexure that proves it, for example a complaint to UPPCB on 4 March at Annexure A-5. Skip the adjectives.

The Act or rule broken. Name the provision. Running without consent breaks Water Act section 25 and Air Act section 21. Construction of 20,000 sq m or more without prior EC breaks the EIA Notification 2006. Night loudspeakers break the Noise Pollution Rules 2000. You need no case law, only a clear link between fact and rule, though you may invoke the polluter pays and precautionary principles that section 20 requires the tribunal to apply.

Relief sought. Say exactly what you want: a joint committee inspection, closure until compliance, removal of waste, restoration of a pond, environmental compensation, costs. A prayer to take strict action produces a vague order. Ask separately for interim relief if harm is imminent, such as trees due to be felled next week.

Filing an NGT case, from first draft to first hearing

The usual sequence for an Original Application. An appeal follows the same steps, built around the order you challenge.

At the first hearing the bench often issues notice and forms a joint committee, for example of the CPCB, the State Board and the DM, to inspect and report, and you can file objections to that report. Our guide on what happens after you file an NGT case covers the rest.

What is the court fee for filing in the NGT?

Low, by court standards. Under rule 12 of the NGT (Practices and Procedure) Rules 2011, an application or appeal with no compensation claim costs ₹1,000. With a compensation claim, the fee is 1% of the amount claimed, minimum ₹1,000, so a ₹20 lakh claim carries ₹20,000. Each miscellaneous application needs at least ₹500. Printing charges of ₹100 per 25 pages, under a 2019 office order, add up in a bulky appeal.

In April 2026 the Delhi High Court issued notice on a plea calling these fees and printing charges excessive. The matter is pending, so the current rates apply. Do not inflate a claim to look serious: it raises the fee, and section 23 lets the tribunal award compensatory costs against a false or vexatious claim. For lawyer's fees and appeal costs, see NGT case cost and appeal.

NGT court fee table

Mistakes that get NGT applications dismissed

• Wrong forum. Pure wildlife offences and Indian Forest Act matters are outside Schedule I and belong in the criminal courts or High Court.
• Out of time. An appeal on day 95, or an application years late, without a convincing condonation application.
• A private dispute dressed up. A neighbour's AC unit or a parking quarrel is not a substantial environmental question.
• No prior approach to authorities. The bench may send you back to the board or DM.
• Skipping the appellate authority. Taking a consent refusal straight to the NGT instead of first appealing under Water Act section 28 or Air Act section 31.
• Missing respondents. Without the polluter or the board on record, no effective order can follow.
• Thin evidence. Undated photos, one newspaper cutting, allegations with no annexures.
• Hidden duplicates. Not disclosing an earlier NGT case on the same site.
• Vague relief. Asking for strict action instead of stating the directions you want.

Before you press submit