25. Penalty for failure to comply with orders of Tribunal.
Whoever fails to comply with any order made by the Tribunal, he shall be punishable
with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which may
extend to ten lakh rupees, or with both.
26. Offences by companies
(1) Where any offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every person
who, at the time the offence was committed, was directly in charge of, and was
responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as
the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be
proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to
any punishment provided in this Act, if he proves that the offence was committed without
his knowledge or that he had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of
such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this
Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that; the offence has been
committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part
of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director,
manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and
shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.-For the purposes of this section,-
(a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association
of individuals; and
(b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
27. Proceedings before the Tribunal to be judicial proceedings.
All proceedings before the Tribunal shall be deemed to be Judicial proceedings within the
meaning of sections 193, 219 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code.
28. Members and staff of Tribunal to be public servants.
The Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members and the officers and other
employees of the Tribunal shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of
section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.
29. Protection of action taken in good faith
No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Central Government or
against the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson or other Member of the Tribunal or any other
person authorised by the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson or other Member for anything
which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any rule or
order made thereunder.
30. Act to have overriding effect
Save as provided in the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, the provisions of this Act
shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other
law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law
other than this Act.
31. Power to make rules
(1) The Central Government may, by notification, make rules for carrying out the
purposes of this Act.
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such
rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
(a) the particulars which an application shall contain, the documents and the fee
which shall be accompanied with it and the limit of annual income of a person so
as to enable him to make application without paying any fee, under sub-section
(5) of section 4;
(b) any such matter in respect on which the Tribunal shall have powers of a civil
court, under clause (i) of sub-section (4) of section 5;
(c) the case or cases which, having regard to the nature of the questions involved,
requires or require! to be decided by a Bench of more than two members, under
clause (d) of suNsection (3) of section 9;
(d) procedure for the investigation of misbehaviour or incapacity of the
Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson or other Member of the Tribunal under subsection (3) of section 13;
(e) the salaries and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditions of
service of, the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members under section
14;
(f) financial and administrative powers of the Chairperson over the Benches under
section 16;
(g) the salaries and allowances and conditions of service of the officers and other
employees of the Tribunal under sub-section (3) of section 17;
(h) the person or the authority by whom, the manner in which and the purposes of
environment for which the amount of compensation credited to the Environmental
Relief Fund shall be utilised under sub-section (2) of section 22; and
(i) any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed.
(3) Every rule made under this Act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,
before each House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days
which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if,
before the expiry of the session immediately following the session of the successive
sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both
Houses agree that the rule Should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only
in such modified from or no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such
modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything
previously done under that rules.