The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) is an expert authority that assists the Supreme Court of India in overseeing compliance with its orders concerning forests, wildlife, and the environment. It is an institution that originated from a judicial order, not a legislative act. The CEC was initially constituted by the Supreme Court in 2002 in the long-running case of T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India. The problem it solved was the need for an independent, expert body to monitor the implementation of the Court's complex environmental directives and bring instances of non-compliance to its notice.
The CEC's core mechanism involves examining applications, reports, and affidavits related to forest conservation cases, conducting field inspections, and submitting fact-based reports and recommendations to the Supreme Court. Its reports are recommendatory, with the final judicial determination resting with the Supreme Court. The CEC connects directly to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, as its work ensures compliance with the Act and related environmental laws.
The CEC recently underwent a significant change: it was transformed from an ad hoc body into a permanent statutory body. This change was formalized by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) through a Notification dated September 5, 2023, issued under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, following the Supreme Court's directions. The new structure, which replaced the earlier composition that included non-governmental members, now consists of a Chairperson, a Member Secretary, and three expert members, all of whom are civil servants appointed by the Central Government. This institutionalization under the MoEFCC was approved by the Supreme Court in its order dated August 18, 2023, in In Re: T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India. The CEC's mandate to monitor compliance with Supreme Court orders on environment, forest, and wildlife matters remains the same.