Section 19: Cognizance, and the Citizen's Complaint

In one line

Any citizen may prosecute under this Act, provided he gives the Government sixty days' notice first.

In the wording a student can write in an examination: section 19 of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 provides that no court shall take cognizance of any offence under the Act except on a complaint made by the Central Government or any authority or officer authorised in this behalf by that Government, or by any person who has given notice of not less than sixty days in the manner prescribed of the alleged offence and of his intention to make a complaint to the Central Government or the authority or officer authorised as aforesaid.

Why this is one of the two most important sections in the Act

Because it is the provision that lets a citizen act when the regulator will not.

Before 1986 an environmental prosecution could be launched only by the State. If the Board did not prosecute, nothing happened. Section 19 changed that, and it did so eleven years before the equivalent provision was inserted into the Water Act and the Air Act.

The second reason it matters is that it is the only provision in the Act that gives a private person a role in enforcement, and a student asked about public participation in environmental decision making should mention it alongside the public hearing under the impact assessment notification.

Reading the section

No court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act. A bar on the court, so it is jurisdictional. A complaint that does not satisfy the section cannot be entertained.

Except on a complaint made by the Central Government or any authority or officer authorised in this behalf by that Government. The first route: the State's own complaint, which requires a valid authorisation.

Or by any person who has given notice of not less than sixty days in the manner prescribed of the alleged offence and of his intention to make a complaint. The second route: the citizen's complaint.

To the Central Government or the authority or officer authorised as aforesaid. The notice goes to the same person who could have complained.

The manner prescribed

Rule 11 of the Environment (Protection) Rules 1986 prescribes the manner of giving notice. The notice is to be in the prescribed form, and is to be sent by registered post or delivered to the authority named. The rule also requires the Central Government or the authority to make available the relevant reports to the person who has given the notice, on payment of the prescribed fee.

That last requirement is important and is often missed. A citizen who gives notice is entitled to the reports in the possession of the Government relating to the alleged offence, which is what makes the complaint capable of being proved.