Green ministry draws flak for using half-baked info to grant mining project

NEW DELHI: A clearance given by the Union environment and forests ministry on the basis of half-baked information has drawn flak in the maiden judgment by the National Green Tribunal.

Justice Ramulu and Devendra Kumar Aggarwal has slammed the ministry, its expert appraisal committee and the consultants hired to do the impact assessment for incomplete information they used to clear a mining project in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district. The case was filed by the sarpanch of Tiroda gram panchayat.

While asking for a fresh review of the project, the court said, "It is baffling to notice that the EIA consultant, who is supposed to be an expert in the field, has no accountability whatsoever, even if he furnishes wrong information or insufficient information...it is always better to fix the responsibilities on the EIA consultant and made liable for taking suitable action (both civil and criminal) for furnishing any wrong information."

The court said the ministry's statutory environment appraisal committee (EAC), which recommends clearances, had not "conducted itself in the manner it requires in recommending the grant of environment clearance to the project."

The court recorded that the ministry and its arm had been lax in monitoring the conditions laid down by the law.

"We are constrained to record that the act of appraisal committee/environment ministry in completely ignoring the non-compliance of the awarded terms of reference for the impact assessment studies at the time of appraisal," it added.