Submissions to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016
Protecting the right to access environmental Iinformation and participate in environmental decision-making
Summary: Given the importance of geospatial information for environmental governance, Vidhi recommends withdrawing the Geospatial Information Bill, 2016 because it unreasonably restricts the right to access environmental information, damaging environmental democracy.
Vidhi recently submitted comments to the Ministry of Home Affairs on the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill 2016. The Bill places stringent restrictions on the acquisition, dissemination and publication of geospatial information.
We contend that the Bill places serious obstructions in the path of independent environmental research and informed, effective public participation in environmental decision-making. Geographic information systems freely available on online portals as well as information collected by ground truthing are valuable tools for environmental researchers and activists. Under the Bill, the use of this kind of information will require a prior licence from a Security Vetting Authority proposed to be constituted.
The right to access information and to participate in environmental decision-making are integral components of the right to environment upheld by the Supreme Court under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, and also affirmed by the High Courts, the National Green Tribunal and the Central Information Commission.
We also argue that the Bill places unreasonable restrictions on the right to freedom of speech and expression, protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. The provisions of the Bill are disproportionate to the objective they intend to serve i.e. the protection of India’s security interests. These interests are adequately protected by existing government policies on the use of geospatial information, all of which adopt nuanced and collaborative approaches to the sharing of such information.
We recommend that the Bill, in its current form, be withdrawn, or at the very least, that the use of geospatial information for the purposes of participation in environmental decision-making be exempted from its provisions.
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About the Authors
Debadityo is a Senior Resident Fellow and Lead, the Climate & Ecosystems team at Vidhi. His research interest lies in 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 12 years of professional experience in issues related to the 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.
Dr. Dhvani Mehta {B.L.S. LL.B. (University of Mumbai); BCL, D.Phil (Oxon)} is a Co-Founder at Vidhi and Lead, Health. She has worked specifically on research projects on environmental clearances, the National Green Tribunal, organ transplant laws, end of life care, and pharmaceutical and medical device regulation. She has appeared in the Supreme Court of India in petitions filed by Vidhi on advance medical directives and discrimination against persons affected by leprosy. She has authored chapters on the implementation of environmental judgments and healthcare corruption in India. Dhvani read for a doctoral degree at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, where she was Chairperson of Oxford Pro Bono Publico and an editor of the Oxford Human Rights Hub blog. Her doctoral thesis explores the idea of an environmental rule of law in India and was cited by the Supreme Court of India.
Yashaswini Mittal was a Research Fellow at Vidhi.
