NGT Order Not Being Followed? How to File an Execution Application

If an NGT order is being ignored, the usual remedy is an execution application in the same tribunal. Section 25 of the NGT Act makes an NGT order executable as a decree of a civil court, and section 26 makes failure to comply punishable with imprisonment up to three years, a fine up to ₹10 crore (₹25 crore for companies), or both. Before filing, check exactly what the order directed and by when, collect proof that it has not been obeyed, and send the responsible party a written reminder with a copy of the order. Then file, asking for specific, time-bound steps.

Winning an order and getting it obeyed are two different things. This guide explains when execution is the right remedy, how to prepare and file the application, what the tribunal can do, and what to do if you are the party accused of not complying. For how cases reach the order stage, see our guide on how to file a case in the NGT.

The essentials

What can I do if an NGT order is not being followed?

File an execution application before the bench that passed the order. In it, you set out what the order directed, show that the direction has not been carried out within the time given, and ask the tribunal to enforce it. Section 25 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 lets the tribunal execute its orders as a civil court executes a decree, and section 26 makes non-compliance an offence.

Do not jump straight to filing. Execution is strongest when the order is clear, the time for compliance is over, the proof of failure is solid, and the responsible party has been reminded in writing. Most weak execution applications fail on one of these four points, not on the law.

It also helps to be realistic about what execution achieves. The tribunal's aim is compliance, not punishment for its own sake. A good application makes it easy for the bench to pass a precise order that gets the work done.

The provisions that make NGT orders enforceable

The NGT Act does not set up a separate contempt procedure. Non-compliance is handled through these provisions, and the tribunal more often uses its execution powers to secure the work than straight criminal punishment.

First, check what the order actually directs

Read the operative paragraph, usually at the end. Who was directed to do what, by when, and was a compliance report required? A direction that "the municipal corporation shall remove the waste from the pond and stop further dumping within three months" is enforceable. A direction that "the State Board shall consider the applicant's grievance and take action in accordance with law" is a different animal.

With the second kind, the authority complies by considering your complaint and passing some decision. If it does, even a decision you dislike, there may be nothing left to execute. Your remedy then is to challenge that new decision or file a fresh application on the continuing violation. If it has not considered the complaint at all, execution can still be used to make it do so.

In execution matters Advocate B.K. Singh handles, the first thing he looks at is the exact wording of the operative paragraph and the date it was communicated to each respondent, because those two facts decide whether there is a clear, enforceable obligation and whether the time to comply has run out.

Is execution the right remedy for your order?

What to do before filing: proof and a written reminder

Proof of non-compliance has to come from after the deadline. Photos and videos dated after the compliance date, showing the waste still in the pond or the effluent still flowing, are the core. Add RTI replies asking the authority what action it took in compliance with the NGT order dated __, and any compliance report it filed. A reply that says "matter under process" months after the deadline is itself evidence.

Then send a short written reminder to the responsible party: the officer by designation, the unit or the builder. Attach the order, quote the operative direction, note that the time has passed, and say that you will move the tribunal if compliance is not shown within a short period such as two weeks. Send it by speed post and email and keep proof. This closes off the argument that nobody told them, and occasionally gets the work done without a filing.

If the order required the respondent to file a compliance report, check the case record. A report claiming compliance that does not match the ground reality should be answered with your evidence in the execution application itself. Our guide on using photos, lab reports and RTI replies as evidence explains how to make that material reliable.

How to file an execution application in the NGT

Documents for an execution application

What happens once the execution application is filed?

At the first hearing the bench usually issues notice to the respondents bound by the order and asks for a response, often an affidavit of compliance, by the next date. If the non-compliance is obvious from your papers, it may straight away fix a short deadline, call for a verification report from the board, or direct a named officer to file an affidavit.

The respondent's affidavit is the key document. Read it against the site: if it claims the waste was removed, go and photograph the pond the same week. Answer any false or incomplete claim quickly with dated evidence. Execution matters can close in one or two hearings when the respondent complies, or run for several months when compliance is partial. The application is disposed of once the bench is satisfied the order has been carried out, so keep watching the site even after that, and come back promptly if the problem returns.

What can the NGT do in an execution application?

The tribunal has wide room. It commonly fixes a fresh, short deadline and asks the respondent to file an affidavit showing compliance; requires a senior officer of the department, by designation, to file an affidavit explaining the delay and the plan; directs the State Board or a committee to verify the ground situation; and imposes or enhances environmental compensation for the period of non-compliance.

Against a private unit, it can direct closure, sealing, or disconnection of electricity and water through the board, and recovery of unpaid compensation using its civil court powers. Against authorities, it can require time-bound plans, regular compliance reporting, and in serious cases the personal appearance of responsible officers. Section 26 sits in the background: the possibility of prosecution and heavy fines makes most respondents take execution seriously.

What it rarely does is grant something the original order did not contain. Execution enforces the order; it does not rewrite it. If you need wider relief, you may need a fresh application.

When a municipal body or government department will not comply

A large share of NGT directions are addressed to authorities: municipal corporations on garbage and sewage, development authorities on encroachment, boards on monitoring and action against units. When they fail, the usual explanations are budget, pending tenders, other departments' responsibility, or a pending policy decision. The bench generally wants a credible plan with dates, not excuses.

Your application should make accountability clear. Name the department and the officer by designation, show what has and has not been done, and ask for an affidavit from an officer senior enough to commit resources. Where several bodies keep passing responsibility between them, say so, quote their RTI replies against each other, and ask the bench to fix who must act.

For the broader question of taking an authority to the NGT for inaction, see an NGT case against a municipality or authority that will not act. For sewage-related orders in particular, our STP and sewage pollution page covers the typical directions.

When a factory, builder or project ignores the order

Private respondents usually comply partly and then claim full compliance. A unit installs a new ETP but does not run it; a builder commissions an STP but bypasses it at night; a crusher installs sprinklers that never work. Your evidence has to show the gap between the claim and the ground, ideally with board inspection notes that back you up.

Ask the tribunal for a verification inspection without notice, and for the specific consequence the order or the law allows: closure until compliance, disconnection through the board, or compensation for the period of breach. The board itself can also act under its own powers; see our page on disconnection directions by the pollution board. A complaint to the board alongside the execution application often speeds things up.

What if compensation awarded by the NGT has not been paid?

Compensation orders come in two kinds, and the route differs slightly. Where the NGT has awarded relief to victims under section 15, such as families affected by a chemical leak or farmers whose fields were damaged, the money is owed to identified people, and those people (or their representatives) can move for execution if it is not paid within the time fixed. Where the tribunal has imposed environmental compensation payable to the State Board or the CPCB, the board is the body that should recover it, and a citizen's role is usually to show that it has not been recovered or spent as directed.

In either case, get the facts first: the amount, the due date, the account or authority to which it was payable, and the current status under RTI. Then ask the bench to direct payment within a short time, to use its civil court powers to recover it if the respondent still does not pay, and, where the order said how the money was to be used (for example, restoring a pond or providing drinking water), to require a report on its use. For the wider law on these claims, see compensation for pollution damage.

When execution is not the right remedy

Execution is not the tool for a new problem. If the order dealt with a unit's effluent and the unit has now started a second, unconsented process, that is a fresh cause of action and usually needs a fresh application or a complaint to the board. Nor is it the tool for disagreeing with the order itself: that is a matter for review or appeal, each with its own time limit. Our guides on review applications against NGT orders and NGT costs and appeals explain those routes.

Be careful, too, where there is genuine progress. If an authority has done most of the work and is visibly finishing the rest, an execution application may get a short extension rather than any firmer order, and you may lose some goodwill. Sometimes a further reminder and a few weeks' patience achieve more.

Accused of not complying with an NGT order? What to do

Respond with documents, not adjectives. File an affidavit showing exactly what has been done, with dates, photos, invoices, board inspection reports and test results. If something is still pending, say what, why, and by when it will be done, and make that date realistic.

If you can see a deadline will be missed, apply for an extension before it expires, explaining the reason with proof. Benches are far more understanding of an honest application in time than of a request made after an execution application has been filed. If a direction is impossible to carry out as worded, for example because of a technical problem or a conflict with another authority's order, apply for modification rather than quietly ignoring it. Our guide on defending an NGT case against your industry covers the wider approach.

Before you file an execution application

Where to go next

If the order followed a joint committee report that you disputed, see how to object to a joint committee report. For waste dumping in particular, our page on garbage dumping, landfills and waste burning and the guide on restoring an encroached village pond may help. Our NGT case filing team can review your order and the evidence of non-compliance.