V.RAMASUBRAMANIAN, J.

On a writ petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, directly on the file of the Supreme Court by the Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum, seeking appropriate reliefs for the prevention, control and abolition of pollution caused in the Palar river bed by industries, the Supreme Court passed an order on 28.8.1996 (reported in 1996 (5) SCC 647), directing the Central Government to constitute an Authority under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

2. In accordance with the said direction, the Central Government constituted an Authority known as the Loss of Ecology Authority. For the past 20 years, this Authority has been functioning on and off, entertaining the claim petitions from the farmers seeking compensation for the damage caused to their agricultural fields. The main writ petition W.P.(Civil) No.914 of 1991, in which the Supreme Court passed the above order, now stands transferred to this Court in W.P.No.13433 of 1996.

3. It is pertinent to note here that the National Green Tribunal was constituted by the Central Government, under the provisions of the National Green Tribunals Act, 2010. But since there was no clarity as to whether the functions of the Loss of Ecology Authority have also been taken over by the National Green Tribunal, the Loss of Ecology Authority continues to function, albeit certain hiccups.

4. Many of the awards passed by the Loss of Ecology Authority came to be challenged before this Court either by the farmers complaining of inadequacy of compensation or by the Industries challenging the award.

5. One such writ petition in W.P.No.39722 of 2005 filed by a person owning agricultural lands, challenging the award of the Loss of Ecology Authority, came up for final hearing before the First Bench of this Court on 3.12.2014. It was pointed out at that time that the Loss of Ecology Authority had almost become dysfunctional, due to the unwillingness of its only long time Chairman to continue. The Court was also informed that there were about 28,000 claim petitions pending on the file of the Loss of Ecology Authority and that by virtue of a judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in K.K.Subramaniam v. Loss of Ecology Authority [(2010) 3 MLJ 1087], the Authority was obliged to adjudicate each claim independently.

6. Taking note of the above, the First Bench of this Court disposed of W.P.No.39722 of 2005, directing the Union of India to nominate a Chairman for the Loss of Ecology Authority within one month and also to provide it necessary facilities to make it functional.

7. After the disposal of W.P.No.39722 of 2005 by the aforesaid order dated 3.12.2014 by the First Bench, the Union of India moved a Miscellaneous Petition in W.P.M.P.No.11 of 2015 seeking a modification of the said order. According to the Union of India, there is neither a necessity, nor is it feasible to continue the Loss of Ecology Authority after the constitution of the National Green Tribunal. Therefore, the Union of India wants the order dated 3.12.2014 to be suitably modified so that all pending matters can be transferred from the Loss of Ecology Authority to the National Green Tribunal, together with even staff of the Authority.

8. Even during the pendency of W.P.No.39722 of 2005, yet another writ petition came to be filed by the Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum seeking a mandamus to direct the Union of India to make the Loss of Ecology Authority as a permanent body. This writ petition was necessitated, since in pursuance of the original order of the Supreme Court dated 28.8.1996, the Loss of Ecology Authority was constituted initially for a period of two years. Many times the term of the Authority was extended under orders of Court or otherwise, for spells of one year each. Therefore, there was no continuity, leaving not only the fate of the members constituting the Authority and the staff wor