Contents

 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................3
 PUBBLIC HEARING & NEW EIA.......................................................................................................4
 VIOLATION OF LAW.......................................................................................................................4
 DEAF EARS TO EMPTY FORMALITIES IN LAW.................................................................................6
 Judiciary’s response towards strengthening Public Hearings in Environmental Clearance process
7
 CONCLUTION.................................................................................................................................9
 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................................11
 LITRATURE REVIEW......................................................................................................................12
 Objectives....................................................................................................................................13
 RESERCH QUESTION....................................................................................................................13
 ENIVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESMENT AND PUBLIC HEARING

• INTRODUCTION

India is the first country which bring a law to protect a environment that is known as a
environment impact act 1994 and environment protection act 1986 and after some time this
was replaced by the UPA government in 2006 both the draft or act play a major role in new
project approval but the new draft which has been now evolved as a act has a many problem
in it . one of the example for this is post facto clarence that Is the project which affect the
EPA can also now apply for the clearance coting this the supreme court said that this was
contrary to the law at the same time the draft include that no information should be given in
the public domain also and the project value upto 150000SQ will be excluded from the EIA
clearance . and the main and important thing is the public hearing yes in the act of 2006
public hearing is given a most important but here public hearing is dogged . “In light of this
development, Mint spoke to conservation biologist and author Neha Sinha on the need for
EIAs, the problems with the new draft and why the environment should be a matter of
concern to every citizen”.

Where a question arises why the why the EIA is so problematic first of all the eia in india is
not a act which protect the environment here a lot of cut copy paste jobs has been done the
new act tries to remove the core idea . the great example for this is a project without the
environment clearance is actually legalized through the way of this act .and the main thing is
that the violation in the project is only represent by the officer or by the government
representative not by the people here the voice and the rights of the people is violated .

The example for these above allegation is baghjan gas leak this shows that the EIA is not
only the act which protecting the environment but also related to the life of the people .
baghjan gas leak in assam is a great example as the project has been running without a
proper clearance from time where the EIA 2020 was not amended and due to the problem
of the poor maintenance the factory has been killing the life of many people so the
avoidance of the public hearing is also constitutional violating in this paper we discuss about
the constitutional violation of the act and effect of avoidance of public hearing.
• PUBBLIC HEARING & NEW EIA

the main and important thing is the public hearing yes in the act of 2006 public hearing is
given a most important but here public hearing is dogged . “In light of this
development, Mint spoke to conservation biologist and author Neha Sinha on the need for
EIAs, the problems with the new draft and why the environment should be a matter of
concern to every citizen. Any impact assessment which is presented for the public hearing
before the public for a reason that the public should know what they are going to do and how
much waste they produce and how they recycle the waste project and the opinion of the
public has to be recorded . and the people will gave a 30 days of gap to respond now the days
have been cut down into 20 days . now take an example of the tribe people living next to
the mine area a project is coming near their area now the community has to look detail into
the project study and summarize gather the people and made them to understand and write a
letter these are every difficult to do in 20 days this rule reduce the rate of public
participation .

and at the same earlier the building which are in the 20,000 square feet or above require a
approval by the state level expert committee and it is now increased up to 150,000 this is a
vast arear even a airport can be build in this area these much large factory will create a more
greenhouse gas and carbon die oxide . if we take a air pollution date in Delhi construction sit
contribute more part in it .

• VIOLATION OF LAW

The united nation conference on environment and development had a met in rio de janerio
from 3-14 june 1992 india had signed in the rio declaration , the main principle of the
convention is lighting the importance of the public hearing . the principle 10 of the
declaration clearly state that environment issue is best handled with the participation of the of
public in the matter of issue relating to the environment . it insist the participation of the all
the concerned citizen it sates that Any impact assessment which is presented for the public
hearing before the public for a reason that the public should know what they are going to do
and how much waste they produce and how they recycle the waste project and the opinion
of the public has to be recorded . and the public should participate in the process of decision
making .1

1
2. Crawford, G. and Williams, C. (1985). A note on the analysis of subjective judgment matrices. Journal of
Mathematical Psychology 29, 387–405.
For a few decades the public hearing is consider as a main thing in EIA Under draft EIA
notification 2020 the term “Public Consultation” is defined under Clause 3 sub-clause (46)
which means “the process by which the concerns of the local affected persons and others,
who have plausible stake in the environmental impact of the project, are ascertained with a
view to appropriately take into account all such material concerns while designing the
projects”. 

The main reason of public hearing is it is not a matter related to the environment only it also
include public life as mentioned above that the EIA is not only the act which protecting the
environment but also related to the life of the people . baghjan gas leak in assam is a great
example as the project has been running without a proper clearance from time where the
EIA 2020 was not amended and due to the problem of the poor maintenance the factory has
been killing the life of many people so the avoidance of the public hearing is also
constitutional violating. At the same time the national green tribunal held that the public
hearing which are conducted with a the irregularities will be consider as a void .

At the same time the time period also decreased to 20 days from 30 days . now take an
example of the tribe people living next to the mine area a project is coming near their area
now the community has to look detail into the project study and summarize gather the people
and made them to understand and write a letter these are every difficult to do in 20 days this
rule reduce the rate of public participation . considering all the above the hon’ble high court
of Gujarat said that the date of public opinion the date has to be remain upto30 this 30 days
is the minimum date and that 30 days should be given from the date of publication of notice
in the news paper as per law and the copies of the document should be available to the local
peoples at least before 30 from the notice .2

2
Dyer, J. S. (1990a). Remarks on the analytic hierarchy process. Management Science 36, 249–258.
• DEAF EARS TO EMPTY FORMALITIES IN LAW

Before the amendment of this new EIA the earlier eIa was divided into two categories that is
category a and the category b it was mentioned that all the categories should have the
public hearing process a as mandatory one there was given exception for a few
modernisation of irrigation product and expansion of roads and highways and all project with
relates to national defence and national securities the effective of the public hearing will
depend on the four test one is people who are attending the meeting should be clear about the
information of the project which are coming on their area second how the waste generated are
disposed and how much quandary are disposed third the people suggestion should be
recorded in a proper manner but in the new draft it was just a formality . the penal only
consist of a government officer alone without any allowance of the local people

After the Indra Gandhi had a return from the Stockholm declaration the environment act has
saw a new era there was a evolution of

The wild life protection act

The water pollution prevention act

The forest conservation act

One important addition to this was the 42 nd Amendment to the Constitution that introduced
Article 48A and Article 51A(g), both of which advocated protection and improvement of
environment. With following to the bhopal staggery the environment protection act has
evolved . and article 253 was amended that gave a umbrella to all these environment related
issues section 3 of EIA has made the union government to take measure to improve the
environment but the new evolved EIA is totally contract to the section the new EIA also
prevent the state to protect and improve the environment and the safe guard of the
3
environment as per article 48A

3
Belton, V. and Gear, T. (1983). On a shortcoming of Saaty’s method of analytic hierarchies. Omega 11,228–
230
• Judiciary’s response towards strengthening Public Hearings in
Environmental Clearance process

Since 2014 there was a conflict between the industry regulator and the in the case of centre
of social justice vs UOI the hight court of Gujarat state that while dealing with the
procedural impropriety the project proponent should be given a full detail on public hearing
from conducting of public hearing and upto the final stage as a document and this a
mandatory

And in the another case of Utkarsh mandal vs union of india

The delhi high court state that the notice of public hearing should be circulated before the 30
days that the date of public opinion the date has to be remain upto30 this 30 days is the
minimum date and that 30 days should be given from the date of publication of notice in the
news paper as per law and the copies of the document should be available to the local
peoples at least before 30 from the notice and also ensure that there was a maximum
participation .

In the another caser of ESSAR OIL LIMITED 4

Here the company made a public objection without conducting a public opinion the court said
that it was illegal and invalid

Clause 14(2) of the draft notification, which is still at the stage of public comments, exempts
public consultation for projects including modernisation of irrigation projects, all building,
construction and area development projects, inland waterways, expansion or widening of
national highways, and all projects concerning national defence and security or involving
“other strategic considerations” as determined by the Central government, among others. The
notification further holds that

“All projects concerning national defence and security or involving other strategic
considerations, as determined by the central government, shall require prior-environment
clearance, from the ministry without any change in the category of the project”  but  “no
information relating to such projects shall be placed in the public domain.”5

4
ESSAR OIL LIMITED
5
Utkarsh mandal vs union of india
And the main thing is same earlier the building which are in the 20,000 square feet or above
require a approval by the state level expert committee and it is now increased up to 150,000
this is a vast arear even a airport can be build in this area these much large factory will create
a more greenhouse gas and carbon die oxide . if we take a air pollution date in Delhi
construction sit contribute more part in it when this matter was bring in front of the national
green tribunal the tribunal coted that this was violation of the environment law at athe same
there was a cut down of the consultation period which will result in the ignoring of the
judicial wisdom and speeding up the industrial process.

• GROUND REALITY - WHETHER IT REALLY PROTECT THE

ENVIRONMENT

Under the eia 2020 all the project should undergo to the public consultation whether it is a
new project or a project which are in existence and want to expand but according to this EIA
only the project which are under going expansion need to go public consultation and that also
suitable for a project expand more than 50% of their initial capacity it was a major loophole
the ground example for this is WTE PLANT in Delhi. The increase the capacity less than
50% it produce about 16 mv of electricity which was just 30 m away from the resident area
the people many time protested against it as this was a violation in the month of February the
environment clearance board permit to extent the plant to 44 % which extent upto produce
23 mv of electricity . and this was in already in opposition by the use of new EIA this
extension was done without the opinion of public . and there was a another thing also that the
industrial estate that is special economic zone and bio tech park these things will not go to the
permission for appraisal committee here the important of the state is reduced . plants can skip
revising their EIA, holding public consultations, and even the scoping and reference of the
project to the EAC. In other words, such projects can now smoothly expand their operations
on the ground, hopping over what were earlier various checkpoints. So there are many
problems in the newly evolved EIA and at the same time it is more benefit to the industrialist
and not to the environment due to reduce of check point
• CONCLUTION

As mentioned above this eia is not only the law relating to the environment but also
involved in the life of the people The example for these above allegation is baghjan gas leak
this shows that the EIA is not only the act which protecting the environment but also related
to the life of the people . baghjan gas leak in assam is a great example as the project has been
running without a proper clearance from time where the EIA 2020 was not amended and
due to the problem of the poor maintenance the factory has been killing the life of many
people so the avoidance of the public hearing is also constitutional violating in this paper we
discuss about the constitutional violation of the act and effect of avoidance of public hearing.
There was many violation happened as the fact of the project is not uploaded in the public
domain as it revenge the right to know the information which was one of the fundamental
rights . and And the main thing is same earlier the building which are in the 20,000 square
feet or above require a approval by the state level expert committee and it is now increased
up to 150,000 this is a vast arear even a airport can be build in this area this will result in a
huge impact. So considering all these thing the EIA 2020 has to be reformed there was no
way to protest also as the one main reason is due to implementation of 144 as a reason of
covid and the another thing is the important of NGO was not given in the EIA as per the act
NGO where not able to protest also
SUGGESTION

As there was a many change has to be made the building which are in the 20,000 square feet
or above require a approval by the state level expert committee and it is now increased up to
150,000. That has to be reduced as ben earlier. the same time the time period also decreased
to 20 days from 30 days . now take an example of the tribe people living next to the mine
area a project is coming near their area now the community has to look detail into the
project study and summarize gather the people and made them to understand and write a
letter these are every difficult to do in 20 days this rule reduce the rate of public
participation . considering all the above the hon’ble high court of Gujarat said that the date of
public opinion the date has to be remain upto30 this 30 days is the minimum date and that 30
days should be given from the date of publication of notice in the news paper as per law and
the copies of the document should be available to the local peoples at least before 30 from the
notice so the time period has to be increases . and the public hearing must be given valid
importance and at the same time the NGO also given equal importance . The delhi high court
state that the notice of public hearing should be circulated before the 30 days that the date of
public opinion the date has to be remain upto30 this 30 days is the minimum date and that 30
days should be given from the date of publication of notice in the news paper as per law and
the copies of the document should be available to the local peoples at least before 30 from the
notice and also ensure that there was a maximum participation
• BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biswas, A. and J. Kirchherr. 2012. Will [the People’s Republic of] China Run Out of Water by 2030?
China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2012-11/29/content_ 15969860.htm

2.Central Pollution Control Board (2013). "Industry-Specific Standards." Central Pollution Control
Board (2013). "Status of STPs."

3.http://cpcb.nic.in/uploads/GRAP_Notification.pdf.

4. http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/jonew/ropor/rop/all/909552.pdf 4. Mahapatra, A.K. and C.P.

Mitchell. 1999. Biofuel Consumption, Deforestation, and Farm Level Tree Growing in Rural India.
Biomass & Bioenergy. 17 (4).

5. Mejia, Robin, (2009), "The challenge of environmental regulation in India," Environmental Science
& Technology, 43, no. 23: 8714-8715. 6 .Parks, Noreen, (2009), "UN update: Climate change hitting
sooner and stronger", Environmental Science & Technology, 43, no. 22:8475-8476.

6. https://lawanthology.com/2020/08/13/public-hearings-in-the-draft-eia-2020-elephant-in-
the-room/

7. https://www.barandbench.com/columns/why-the-recent-trend-of-doing-away-with-public-
hearings-in-environmentclearance-process-is-a-bigger-problem-than-covid-19

8. Yousfi Steiner, Nadia, et al. "Application of fault tree analysis to fuel cell diagnosis." Fuel Cells 12.2
(2012): 302-309.

9. Yazdi, Mohammad, and Esmaeil Zarei. "Uncertainty handling in the safety risk analysis: an
integrated approach based on fuzzy fault tree analysis." Journal of failure analysis and prevention
18.2 (2018): 392-404.
• LITRATURE REVIEW

Looking at the practice in other developing countries, it is worth mentioning that the public
hearings are executed by a panel of independent experts, community representatives and
officials from the government departments involved with the project. For instance, hearing panel
members in India belong to State Pollution Control Board, Department of Environment, Local
Government/ Municipalities or Punchayats, and senior citizens of the affected areas (not more
than three in both cases) nominated by the District Collector (Rajvanshi, 2003; Panigrahi and
Amirapu, 2012). In Ghana, panels for public hearings consist of at least three representatives of
local diversity (Bawol, 2013)

This was mostly in the form of modifications in the project design and environmental approval
conditions (Wood, 2003, Sinclair andDiduck, 2001). However, in developing countries, influence
of public participation or stakeholders' concerns on the final outcome of EIA has been found to
be weak (Song and Glasson, 2010;Chompunth, 2011;Naser 2012; Panigrahi and Amirapu, 2012) . In
Pakistan, EPA's in-house committees or concerned directors, if satisfied with the proponent's
response to the public concerns, issue environmental approval/NOC.

This is common practice in other developing countries, as well. In Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia and
India, monitoring takes place mostly in response to complaints by the direct affectees and other
stakeholders (Ahmad, and Wood, 2002;Panigrahi and Amirapu, 2012)

Although ongoing challenges remain, e.g. poor support for public interveners, inadequate
feedback to affected communities, and lack of legitimacy (Panigrahi and Amirapu, 2012;Erlewein,
2013;Choudhury, 2014;Chowdhury, 2014), public hearings were made mandatory in 1997 and in
2006 their structure and transparency were improved, e.g. provisions to video record the
proceedings .
• Objectives

The present paper analyzes important of the public hearing in the country. It tries to gather
information about the achievement of the objective of environmental public consultation
around two decades of its introduction. But the major concern is on effective implementation
of Public hearing in the Environmental Clearance System (ECS). The model of the Indian
Institution of Ecological charter provides the pathway for an effective mechanism by
identifying the baseline problems.

• RESERCH QUESTION

 drawback of the EIA 2020

 What is the constitutional validity and the reforms should be made