The high court has amended its decision not to hear ‘green’ cases and has clarified that it will continue to hear cases already pending before it, while new cases will be decided on a case-by-case basis. It was decided earlier that the high court will not hear 45 types of cases related to environmental issues, but would refer them to the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) regional bench in Chennai. In an order issued on Thursday, the high court clarified that cases already pending before the court will be heard by it. Further, the decision to refer new cases to NGT would be on a case-by-case basis. The high court’s clarification came as a huge relief to litigants and lawyers who were faced with the situation of having to travel to Chennai to contest cases. Confining itself to the strict definition of ‘green’ cases by the Supreme Court, the high court has now decided that only cases falling under seven laws identified by the SC would be referred to the NGT bench in Chennai. Thus, the cases to be mainly referred to the NGT would include those on pollution of water, air and environment, forest conservation cases, and public liability insurance cases. The seven laws identified are Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act of 1977, Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981, Environment (Protection) Act of 1986, Public Liability Insurance Act of 1991, and Biological Diversity Act of 2002. T hough NGT is willing to set up a circuit bench in high court premises, a decision is still awaited on the request for infrastructure to conduct hearings.