Environmental clearance: the EIA Notification, 2006

Prelims and MainsCurrent affairs on this: EIA, clearances and pollution control law

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is the study a project must pass before it may change the environment. In India it is not a separate Act but a notification of 14 September 2006 under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. A schedule lists the activities that need prior clearance: Category A projects are appraised at the Centre by an Expert Appraisal Committee, Category B projects at the State by a State Expert Appraisal Committee, and only B1 projects need a full study. Clearance passes through screening, scoping, public consultation and appraisal, and must be obtained before work starts; that word "prior" is why post facto clearance has been fought over in court.

• Screening (does the project need a study) applies only to Category B, so a Category A project begins at scoping, where the terms of reference for the study are fixed by the committee. A B2 project, having no study, runs from screening to appraisal on Forms 1 and 1A and skips public consultation.
• Public consultation has two parts: a public hearing run by the State Pollution Control Board at or near the site, whose proceedings must be forwarded within 45 days of the request, and written responses from other concerned persons. Some expansions and modernisations are exempt from the hearing.
• Appraisal is the committee's examination of the study and the hearing, ending in a recommendation; the Ministry or the State authority decides. Category is set by size and capacity thresholds in the schedule (mining lease area, thermal capacity and so on), and where a State has no authority a B project is treated as A.
• Prior clearance is the rule. A 2017 notification and a 2021 office memorandum let violators be regularised; the Supreme Court's final word, on 29 July 2026, is that prior clearance stays mandatory but Section 3 allows a narrowly tailored, time bound amnesty, so the 2017 one time window stands and the 2021 standing route is quashed (see the headed block).
• The draft EIA Notification 2020 proposed a permanent violation handling route, longer validity for some sectors and a shorter public notice period (20 days instead of 30); it has been in litigation since 2020, never notified and never withdrawn, while the 2006 notification has been amended piecemeal.

Mains: An EIA regime is judged on three things: whether the study is independent of the proponent, whether the public hearing can change the outcome, and whether clearance can be obtained after the harm; India's 2006 notification is weakest on the first and has been tested in court three times on the third.

Further reading: Environmental Impact Assessment (MoEFCC)

See also: Ex post facto environmental clearance · Gram sabha consent for forest clearance