Submissions on the Draft Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2020
Vidhi's submissions analyse the EIA Notification against the seven core components of the environmental rule of law (as set out in the United Nations Environment Programme's First Global Report) and provide recommendations for a forward-looking and comprehensive law on EIA.
Abstract
The EIA Notification was initially notified in 1994 with the objective of allowing developmental activities for the country while maintaining an acceptable quality of environment and reserves of natural resources to cater for future generations. It has been 26 years since the notification was introduced under the Environment Protection Act 1986 as delegated legislation. The 1994 notification was replaced by a fresh notification in 2006 and the current draft seeks to replace the 2006 notification.
Over the years, the EIA process has become firmly entrenched in India’s environmental governance system. The original notification has been supplemented by various circulars, guidelines, and manuals issued by the MoEF&CC from time to time. Orders passed by the National Green Tribunal (the ‘NGT’), various High Courts, and the Supreme Court (the ‘SC’)
complete the regime governing the EIA process.
As the MoEF&CC seeks to overhaul the entire system of EIA in the country by means of a new notification, technical inputs on improving the draft EIA notification are being received from all quarters. We seek to supplement these technical inputs by analysing the quality of the delegated legislation. Since there is no formal mechanism In India for conducting this type of
assessment, we believe that the concept of the environmental rule of law can provide a useful theoretical framework to assess the notification.
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About the Authors
Shyama Kuriakose is a Senior Resident Fellow working in the area of Environment. She is currently involved with a project on implementation of landmark environmental judgements. She has nine years of experience in dealing with enviro-legal subjects ranging from forest conservation, climate change, water management to issues of urban environmental governance from the lens of gender justice and human rights. Prior to Vidhi, she worked as an environmental lawyer and legal consultant at Enviro Legal Defence Firm (ELDF) with Adv. Sanjay Upadhyay for 7 years. In the course of her employment, she worked on enviro-legal compliance for private sector entities, conducted training and capacity building exercises and carried out law and policy analysis. Shyama holds an undergraduate degree in law from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi and a Master’s from National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, Hyderabad. She also writes regularly on natural resource management laws in newspapers and online news portals.
Debadityo is a Senior Resident Fellow and is leading projects related to the implementation of key environmental legislations and judgments. His research interest lies on the intersection of ecology, law and policy. He graduated with B.Sc. (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Delhi in 2009 and completed M.Sc. (Tech.) Environmental Science & Technology from Banaras Hindu University in 2012. He has also undertaken training on Tropical Forest Restoration from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2016. He has over 9 years of professional experience in issues related to environment and wildlife protection. In the past, he has worked with organizations like Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre, Legal Initiative for Forest & Environment, WWF-India, Wildlife Trust of India and several grassroots organizations. He is founder and trustee of Vindhyan Ecology and Natural History Foundation (since 2012). He is a recipient of the Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award' (2019) and is member of IUCN-Species Survival Commission’s Bear Specialist Group and EKOenergy network, Helsinki. Debadityo has also initiated litigations in the National Green Tribunal on issues related to environmental clearance, declaration of eco-sensitive zones and compensation for environmental damage.
