The court gave the directive while disposing a PIL by D Karthik, an advocate, who submitted that after constitution of NGT, Southern Zone, all the cases relating to environmental matters pending before various high courts in the south were transferred to the tribunal here.
The previous expert member Nagendiran has resigned from the office a few months ago and no member has been appointed in his place till date, he submitted.
The volume of litigations with respect to environment has increased manifold in the southern states and it was only due to this fact, a second court was actually established a few years ago in Chennai.
However, without there being sufficient expert members, the tribunal could not function effectively, he submitted.