law: National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997
  12. Procedure and powers of Authority. – 
  (1) The Authority shall not be bound by the 
  
  procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), but shall 
  
  be guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to the other 
  
  provisions of this Act and of any rules made by the Central Government, the 
  
  Authority shall have power to regulate its own procedure including the fixing of 
  
  places and times of its inquiry and deciding whether to sit in public or in 
  
  private
  (2) The Authority shall have, for the purposes
  
  of discharging its functions under this Act, the same powers as are vested in a
  
  civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a
  
  suit, in respect of the following matters, namely :-
  (a) summoning and
  
  enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
  (b) requiring the
  
  discovery and production of documents;
  (c) receiving evidence
  
  on affidavits;
  (d) subject to the
  
  provisions of Sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 of
  
  1872), requisitioning any public record or document or copy of such record or
  
  document from any office;
  (e) issuing
  
  commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;
  (f) reviewing its
  
  decisions;
  (g) dismissing a
  
  representation for default or deciding it, ex parte ;
  (h) setting aside any
  
  order of dismissal of any representation for default or any order passed by it
  
  ex parte ; and
  ( i )
  
  any other matter which is required to be, or may be, prescribed by the Central
  
  Government.