In a welcome development, the Ministry of Environment (“MoE”) has proposed exempting enterprises from obtaining “Consent to Establish” (“CTE”) if they have otherwise obtained Environment Clearance (“EC”) under Environmental Impact Assessment notification, 2006. The MoE has issued draft notifications under Air Act, 1981 (“Air Act”) and Water Act 1974 (“Water Act”) for public review; for bringing in a simpler consent regime under environmental law.
The existing regulatory regime on environment approvals involved some duplication insofar as businesses were required to obtain separate prior consents before setting up of certain polluting industries under Environment Act, 1986 (“Environment Act”) (called “EC” or environment clearance) as well as under Air / Water Act (called “CTE” or “Consent to Establish”).
Recognizing that the requirements for obtaining CTE and EC mirrored each other, the MoE has proposed to integrate the conditions in CTE with those in EC, effectively doing away with the requirement of CTE for industries which obtain EC. However, the industries will continue to require a “Consent to Operate”, which is required prior to commencement of commercial operations as under the existing regime.
On a separate note, the draft notifications issued by MoE also provide for doing away with the requirement of consent to operate (“CTO”) and CTE for industries covered under “White Category”; and empowered the State Pollution Control Boards (“SPCBs”) to maintain list of such industries.
The Central Pollution Control Board (“CPCB”) had in 2016 issued directions identifying industries which would be classified as “Red”, “Orange”, “Green” and “White” depending on their relative pollution potential. “White Category” industries were industries which were considered to be non-polluting and exempted from the requirement of CTO/CTE under the Air Act and Water Act. The latest draft notifications appear to formalise the above arrangement and appear to empower the SPCBs to draw up the list of “White Category” industries in their respective jurisdictions.
There is a small nuance here which requires consideration. The draft notification under Air Act is proposed to come into force immediately from the date of its notification in the Official Gazette. However, as “water” is a State subject, the draft notification under Water Act is proposed to come into force only from the date the respective States adopt the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024 (“Amendment Act”), pursuant to which the draft notification has been issued. It appears that only the States of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have adopted the Amendment Act till date; and industries will have to keep track of the dates from which the Amendment Act is adopted by other States.
The draft notifications maybe accessed from the following links:
https://egazette.gov.in/(S(ao4fzyynsrpxeyaew1q30ifn))/ViewPDF.aspx
https://egazette.gov.in/(S(ao4fzyynsrpxeyaew1q30ifn))/ViewPDF.aspx
