Note on DEIAA based on the Zero Draft

The MoEF &CC has reconstituted the District Environment Impact Assessment Authority

(DEIAA) to Grant EC for B2 Category of minor minerals in the EIA Zero draft

(2019).The composition of DEIAA and DEAC is exactly the same as given in the EIA

Notification, 2006( brought in through Amendment Notification S.O 141(E) dated

15.01.2016). The Zero Draft has widened the powers of the DEIAA to grant EC to the

5-25 ha category of minor minerals apart from the 0-5 ha category and has excluded

EIA study and Public Consultation for the B2 Category.

As per the Deepak Kumar v. State of Haryana1, The Hon’ble Supreme Court while

examining the breaking up of mining leases below 5 ha to avoid environmental norms

under EIA Notification, 2006 and the harmful effects to the environment by mining of

minor minerals, especially river sand, clearly stated that:

“leases of minor mineral including their renewal for an area of less than five hectares
be granted by the States/Union Territories only after getting environmental clearance
from the MoEF.”
The MoEF issued an Office Memorandum No. L-llOll/47/2011-IA.II(M) dated

18.05.2012, in compliance of the Judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter

of Deepak Kumar (Supra). The Office Memorandum stated that all mining projects of

minor minerals including their renewal, irrespective of the size of the lease would hence

forth require prior environment clearance following the procedure prescribed under EIA

Notification, 2006 as follows:

“3.In order to ensure compliance of the above referred order of the Hon'ble Supreme
Court dated 27.2.2012, it has now been decided that all mining projects of minor
minerals including their renewal, irrespective of the size of the lease would hence forth
require prior environment clearance. Mining projects with lease area up to less than 50
ha including projects of minor mineral with lease area less than 5 ha would be treated
as category 'B' as defined in the EIA Notification, 2006 and will be considered by the
respective SEIAAs notified by MoEF and following the procedure prescribed under EIA
Notification, 2006.”

In 2013, the MoEF through an Office Memorandum No. J-1302/12/2103-IA-II(I) dated

24.12.2013, categorized the category of ‘B’ projects/ activities into Category ‘B1’ and

1
Deepak Kumar v. State of Haryana (2012) 4 SCC 629
‘B2’, by breaking up of Category B under the EIA Notification 2006, into B1 and B2 and

exempting the B2 category(0-5 ha) from the process laid down in the EIA Notification,

2006.

The MoEF again in 2016, vide Notification S.O. 141 (E) dated 15.01.2016 established

district level District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) and the District

Expert Appraisal Committee (DEAC). The changes brought out by the notifications are

as follows:

I. Separate procedure introduced for the appraisal of category B2 for mining

minor minerals up to 25 ha of mining lease.

II. Creation of DEIAA for granting Environmental Clearance for all category B2

projects of minor minerals and setting up of eleven member body –DEAC for

assisting DEIAA in all the districts of the country.

III. DEIAA and DEAC given power to grant EC for individual mining leases up to

5 ha and cluster mining leases up to 25ha on the basis of ,Form 1M, Pre –

Feasibility Report, approved Mining plan and EMP .The requirement of EIA

study and Public Hearing was exempted.

IV. The SEIA and SEIAA under the Notification dated 15.01.2016 is given

power to appraise and grant environmental clearance to individual mining

leases greater than 5 ha and below 25 ha. The requirement of EIA study and

Public Hearing was exempted.

V. Further the Notification dated 15.01.2016 stipulates that for mining leases

below 25 ha in cluster only one public hearing is required and the final

Environment Impact Report for the entire cluster shall be prepared after the

Public Hearing.

The DEIAA and DEAC lacked environmental experts and professionals and was

inadequate to protect the environmental requirements of ecosystem in granting

clearance for mining of minor minerals. These issues were raised before the NGT in the

matter of Satendra Pandey v. MoEF & Anr and other connected matters.
The Hon’ble NGT vide order dated 13.09.2018 in the matter of Satendra Pandey v.

MoEF & Anr (Original Application No. 186 of 2016) had held that DEIAA, is not a

competent authority to grant Environmental Clearances and also held that the

competent authority to grant EC is the SEIAA for 0-5 ha category. The Tribunal further

held that EIA study and Public Consultation is mandatory for the 5-25 ha category of

mines for grant of EC. The Tribunal directed the MoEF &CC to issue a new Notification

to bring the EIA, Notification 2006 in consonance with the Judgment of the Supreme

Court in Deepak Kumar v. State of Haryana2.

Further,the Hon’ble NGT in the matter of Vikrant Tongad v. Union of India

&Ors.(Execution Application 55 of 2018 in Original Application No. 520 of 2016) vide

order dated 11.12.2018, directed the Ministry of Environment and Forest to comply

with the Order of the Tribunal dated 13.09.2018. The Hon’ble NGT had also expressly

stayed the Notification dated 15.01.2016, until a new notification has been issued by

the MoEF & CC. The matter is still pending in the

Comments

The MoEF & CC in the EIA Zero draft (2019), has completely gone against Order of

the National Green Tribunal and has severely diluted the process of Appraisal of mining

projects of minor minerals and has re-constituted the District Level Environment Impact

Assessment Authority (DEIAA) to appraise mining projects falling under the category of

0-25 ha(B2 Category).

The purpose of EIA is to examine the all possible options and impacts of the proposed

activity based on which permission for such activity is given. The EMP is a requirement

of management and mitigation measure after a decision is made on the permissibility

of the activity in the first place. The projects falling in B2 category have been

completely exempted from the EIA study and from making an EMP.

2
Ibid
The other important aspect of the EIA Zero draft is the Public Consultation aspect.

According to the Zero draft that for mining leases below 25 ha, either individual or

cluster, the requirement of public hearing is exempted and this is in complete

contradiction with the statutory requirement of public hearing. The affected population

must be made aware of all possible impacts of the proposed activity and should be able

to express their views and concern against the proposed project.

Lack of Experts

The qualification of Experts is exactly the same with a very minute change in the “Age”

part, the maximum age has been increased to 75 years with an extension up to 78

years.

The Chairperson of DEIAA will be the District Magistrate /District Collector and the

Chairperson of the DEAC will be the Executive Engineer , Irrigation Department, theses

posts are clearly administrative posts without any requirement of an understanding of

the complexities and environmental issues of mining of minor minerals .

Similarly in DEIAA, the Member Secretary will be Sub-Divisional Magistrate or Sub-

Divisional Officer, the other two members are DFO and Expert to be nominated by

Divisional Commissioner. For the DEAC , The Member Secretary will be Assistant

Director or Deputy Director or District Mines Officer or Geologist in the district . The

other members will be from Sub-Divisional Officer Forest, representative of the remote

sensing department or geology department or state ground water department ,

occupational health expert or medical officer, engineer form Zila Parishad , State

Pollution Control Board or Committee , senior most assistant engineer-PWD and the

three experts to be nominated by the Divisional Commissioner. As it is evident most of

these posts are administrative and not even necessarily without any knowledge or

implicit or explicit requirement of environmental expertise.

Only one expert member is provided in the DEAC out of a composition of four and the

DEIAA provides for three expert members out of a composition of eleven. The
Notification states that serving members of the State Government are ‘ex-officio’

members i.e., their participation in the process of appraisal is an additional role

.Therefore, in addition to their expertise , their availability of time to examine the issue

of such complexity and critical significance is also questionable.