KERLA LAW TIMES

Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006 –- Amendments

(Notification No.S.O.141(E), dated January 15, 2016, published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 3(ii), dated 15th January, 2016, pp. 16-25, No.125)

Whereas in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) and clause (v) of sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986(29 of 1986), a draft notification for making certain amendments in the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, issued vide number S.O.1533(E), dated the 14th September 2006 (2006-CCL-III-434[287]), was published under sub-rule (3) of Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, vide number S.O. 2588(E), dated 22nd September, 2015, inviting objections and suggestions from all persons likely to be affected thereby, within a period of sixty days from the date of publication on which copies of Gazette containing the said notification were available to the public;

And whereas, copies of said notification were made available to the public on 22nd September, 2015;

And whereas, all objections and suggestions received in response to the above mentioned draft notification have been duly considered by the Central Government;

And whereas, in pursuance to the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court, dated the
27th February, 2012 in Deepak Kumar v. State of Haryana ((2012) 4 SCC 629)*, prior environmental clearance has now become mandatory for mining of minor minerals irrespective of the area of mining lease;

And whereas, as a result of the above said order of Hon’ble Supreme Court, the number of cases which are now required to obtain prior environmental clearance has increased substantially;

And whereas, the Hon’ble National Green Tribunal, vide its order dated the
13th January, 2015 in the matter regarding sand mining has directed for making a policy on environmental clearance for mining leases in cluster for minor minerals;

And whereas, the State Governments have represented for streamlining the process of environmental clearance for mining of minor mineral;

And whereas, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in consultation with State Governments has prepared Guidelines on Sustainable Sand Mining detailing the provisions on environmental clearance for cluster, creation of District Environment Impact Assessment Authority and proper monitoring of sand mining using information technology and information technology enabled services to track the mined out material from source to destination;

Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) and
clause (v) of sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 read with clause (d)of sub-rule (3) of Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, the Central Government hereby makes the following amendments in the said notification, namely—

In the said notification,—

(a) in Paragraph 2, after the words “in the said Schedule”, the following words shall be inserted, namely—

“and at District level, the District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) for matters falling under Category ‘B2’ for mining of minor minerals in the said Schedule”;

(b) after Paragraph 3, the following paragraph shall be inserted, namely—

“3-A. District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority.-- (1) A District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority hereinafter referred to as the DEIAA shall be constituted by the Central Government under sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 comprising of four members including a Chairperson and a Member-Secretary.

(2) The District Magistrate or District Collector shall be the Chairperson of the DE1AA.

(3) The Sub-Divisional Magistrate or Sub-Divisional Officer of the district headquarter of the concerned district of the State shall be the Member-Secretary of the DEIAA.

(4)  The other two members of the DEIAA shall be the senior most Divisional Forest Officer and one expert. The expert shall be nominated by the Divisional Commissioner of the Division or Chief Conservator of Forest, as the case may be. The term and qualifications of the expert fulfilling the eligibility criteria are given in Appendix VII to this notification.

(5) The members of the DEIAA who are serving officers of the concerned State Government or the Union Territory Administration shall be ex-officio members except the expert member.

(6) The District Level Expert Appraisal Committee hereinafter referred to as the DEAC shall comprise of eleven members, including a Chairman and a Member-Secretary.

(7)  The senior most Executive Engineer, Irrigation Department in the district of respective State Governments or Union Territory Administration shall be the Chairperson of the DEAC.

(8) The Assistant Director or Deputy Director of the Department of Mines and Geology or District Mines Officer or Geologist of the district shall be the Member-Secretary of the DEAC in that order.

(9)  A representative of the State Pollution Control Board or Committee, senior most Sub-Divisional Officer (Forest) in the district, representative of Remote Sensing Department or Geology Department or State Ground Water Department, one occupational health expert or Medical Officer to be nominated by the District Magistrate or District Collector, Engineer from Zila Parishad, and three expert members to be nominated by the Divisional Commissioner or Chief Conservator of Forest, as the case may be, shall be the other members of the DEAC. The term and qualifications of the experts fulfilling the eligibility criteria are given in Appendix VII to this notification.

(10) The members of the DEAC who are serving officers of the concerned State Government or the Union Territory Administration shall be ex-officio members except the expert members.

(11) The District Magistrate or District Collector shall notify an agency to act as Secretariat for the DEIAA and the DEAC and shall provide all financial and logistic support for their statutory functions.

(12)  The DEIAA and DEAC shall exercise the powers and follow the procedure as specified in the said notification, as amended from time to time.

(13) The DEAC shall function on the principle of collective responsibility and the Chairman shall endeavour to reach a consensus in each case and if consensus cannot be reached, the view of the majority shall prevail.”;

(c)   in Paragraph 4, after sub-paragraph (Hi), the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted, namely—

“(iv) The ‘B2’ Category projects pertaining to mining of minor mineral of lease area less than or equal to five hectare shall require prior environmental clearance from DEIAA. The DEIAA shall base its decision on the recommendations of DEAC, as constituted for this notification.”;

(d)   for Paragraph 5, the following paragraph shall be substituted, namely—

“5. Screening, Scoping and Appraisal Committees.--The same Expert Appraisal Committees (EACs) at the Central Government, SEACs at the State or Union Territory level and DEAC at the district level shall screen, scope and appraise projects or activity in category ‘A’, ‘B1 and B2’ and ‘B2’ projects for mining of minor minerals of lease area less than and equal to five hectare respectively. EAC, SEACs and DEACs shall meet at least once every month.

(a)   The composition of the EAC shall be as given in Appendix VI. The SEAC at the State or the UnionTerritory level shall be constituted by the Central Government in consultation with the concerned State Government or the Union Territory Administration with identical composition. DEAC at the district level shall be constituted by the Central Government as per the composition given in Paragraph 3-A.

(b)   The Central Government may with the prior concurrence of the concerned State Governments or the Union Territory Administration constitute one SEAC for more than one State or Union Territory for reasons of administrative convenience and
cost.

(c)   The EAC and SEAC shall be reconstituted after every three years.

(d)   The authorised members of the EAC, SEACs and DEACs concerned, may inspect any site connected with the project or activity in respect of which the prior environmental clearance is sought for the purpose of screening or scoping or appraisal with prior notice of at least seven days to the project proponent who shall provide necessary facilities for the inspection.

(e)   The EAC, SEACs and DEACs shall function on the principle of collective responsibility. The Chairperson shall endeavour to reach a consensus in each case and if consensus cannot be reached the view of the majority shall prevail.”;

(e)  for Paragraph 6, the following paragraph shall be substituted, namely—

“6. Application for Prior Environmental Clearance (EC).-- An application seeking prior environmental clearance in all cases shall be made by the project proponent in the prescribed Form 1 annexed herewith and Supplementary Form 1-A, if applicable, as given in Appendix II after the identification of prospective site(s) for the project and/or activities to which the application relates; and in Form 1-M for mining of minor minerals up to five hectare under Category ‘B2’ projects, as given in Appendix VIII, before commencing any construction activity, or preparation of land, or mining at the site by the project proponent. The project proponent shall furnish along with the application, a copy of the pre-feasibility project report, in addition to Form 1, Form 1-A,

and Form 1-M; and in  case of construction projects or activities (Item 8 of the Schedule), a copy of the conceptual plan shall be provided instead of pre-feasibility report.”;

(f)   in Paragraph 7,—

(i) in sub-paragraph (i), under the heading “I. Stage (1)—Screening:”, the existing sub-paragraph shall be lettered as sub-paragraph “(A)” and after sub-paragraph as so lettered, the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted,namely—

“(B) The cases as specified in Appendix IX shall be exempted from prior environmental clearance.”;

(ii)  after sub-paragraph (7)(ii), the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted,namely—

“(7)(iii) Preparation of District Survey Report for Sand Mining or River Bed Mining and Mining of other Minor Minerals:

(a)The prescribed procedure for preparation of District Survey Report for sand mining or river bed mining and mining of other minor minerals is given in Appendix X.

(b) The prescribed procedure for environmental clearance for mining of minor minerals including cluster situation is given in Appendix XI.”;

(g)  in Paragraph 8,—

(i)  for the letters and word “EAC or SEAC”, the words and letters “EAC or SEAC or DEAC” shall be substituted;

(ii)  for the words “Expert Appraisal Committee or State Level  Expert Appraisal Committee” wherever they occur, the words “Expert Appraisal Committee or State Level Expert Appraisal Committee or District Level Expert Appraisal Committee” shall be substituted;

(h)  in Paragraph 9, in sub-paragraph (i),—

for the words “Expert Appraisal Committee or State Level Expert Appraisal Committee”, the words “Expert Appraisal Committee or State Level’ Expert Appraisal Committee or District Level Expert Appraisal Committee” shall be substituted;

(i)  in Paragraph 10, after sub-paragraph (iii),the following sub-paragraph shall be inserted,namely—

“(iv) The prescribed procedure for sand mining or river bed mining and monitoring is given in Appendix XII.”;

(j)  in Paragraph 11,—

for the words “Expert Appraisal Committee or State Level Expert Appraisal Committee”, the words “Expert Appraisal Committee or State Level Expert Appraisal Committee or District Level Expert Appraisal Committee” shall be substituted;

(k)  in the Schedule,—

(i) for Item 1 (a)and the entries relating thereto, the following item and entries shall be substituted,namely—

(l)  after Appendix VI, the following appendices shall be inserted,namely—

Appendix  VII

(See Paragraph  3-A)

QUALIFICATIONS  AND  TERMS  FOR  THE  EXPERTS  IN  DEIAA  AND DEAC

1. Qualification: The person should have at least (i) 5 years of formal University training in the concerned discipline leading to a M.A. or M. Sc. Degree or (ii) in case of Engineering/Technology/Architectural discipline, 4 years formal training course together with prescribed practical training in the field leading to a B. Tech/B.E./B. Arch. Degree, or (iii) Other professional degree (e.g. MBA etc.) involving a total of 5 years of formal University training and prescribed practical training, or (iv) Prescribed apprenticeship/articleship and pass examinations conducted by the concerned professional associations (e.g. Chartered Accountancy) or (v) a University degree, followed by two years of formal training in a University or Service Academy (e.g. MBA/MPA etc.).
In selecting the individual professionals, experience gained by them in their respective fields will be taken note of.

2.  Expert: A professional fulfilling the above eligibility criteria with at least 10 years of relevant experience in the field or with an advanced degree (e.g. Ph. D.) in a concerned field with at least 5 years of relevant experience.

3. Age: Below 70 years. However, in the event of non-availability of paucity of experts in a given field, the maximum age of a member may be allowed up to 75 years.

4.  Fields: Experts in Mining, Geology, Hydrology, Remote Sensing, Environment Quality, Environment Impact Assessment Process, Risk Assessment, Life Sciences, Marine Sciences, Forestry and Wildlife, Environmental Economics, Bio-diversity, and River Ecology.

5.  Tenure: The maximum tenure of expert members shall be for two terms of three years each.

6.  The Expert Members may not be removed prior to expiry of the tenure without cause and proper enquiry.

Appendix  VIII

(See  Paragraph 6)

Form 1-M

APPLICATION  FOR MINING  OF  MINOR  MINERALS  UNDER  CATEGORY  ‘B2’ FOR  LESS  THAN  AND  EQUAL  TO  FIVE  HECTARE

(II) Basic Information

(viii)   Name of the Mining Lease site                         :

(ix) Location/site (GPS Co-ordinates)                         :

(x)   Size of the Mining Lease (Hectare)                     :

(xi)  Capacity of Mining Lease (TPA)                          :

(xii) Period of Mining Lease                                        :

(xiii)  Expected cost of the Project                              :

(xiv)     Contact Information                                         :

Environmental Sensitivity

                                            Signature of Project Proponent along with name and address

APPENDIX  IX

(See Paragraph 7(i)(B))

EXEMPTION  OF  CERTAIN  CASES  FROM  REQUIREMENT  OF ENVIRONMENTAL  CLEARANCE

The following cases shall not require prior environmental clearance, namely—

1.   Extraction of ordinary clay or sand, manually, by the Kumhars (Potter) to prepare earthen pots, lamp, toys, etc. as per their customs.

2.   Extraction of ordinary clay or sand, manually, by earthen tile makers who prepare earthen tiles.

3.   Removal of sand deposits on agricultural field after flood by farmers.

4.   Customary extraction of sand and ordinary earth from sources situated in Gram Panchayat for personal use or community work in village.

5.   Community works like de-silting of village ponds or tanks, construction of village roads, ponds, bunds undertaken in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment and Guarantee Schemes, other Government sponsored schemes, and community efforts.

6.   Dredging and de-silting of dams, reservoirs, weirs, barrages, river, and canals for the purpose of their maintenance, upkeep and disaster management.

7.   Traditional occupational work of sand by Vanjara and Oads in Gujarat vide notification number GU/90(16)/MCR-2189(68)/5-CHH, dated the 14th February, 1990 of the Government of Gujarat.

8.   Digging of well for irrigation or drinking water.

9.  Digging of foundation for buildings not requiring prior environmental clearance.

10.             Excavation of ordinary earth or clay for plugging of any breach caused in canal, nala, drain, water body, etc., to deal with any disaster or flood like situation upon orders of District Collector or District Magistrate.

11. Activities declared by State Government under legislations or rules as non-mining activity with concurrence of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.

APPENDIX  X

(See Paragraph 7(iii)(a))

PROCEDURE  FOR  PREPARATION  OF  DISTRICT  SURVEY  REPORT

The main objective of the preparation of District Survey Report (as per the Sustainable Sand Mining Guideline) is to ensure the following:

Identification of areas of aggradations or deposition where mining can be allowed; and identification of areas of erosion and proximity to infrastructural structures and installations where mining should be prohibited and calculation of annual rate of replenishment and allowing time for replenishment after mining in that area.

The report shall have the following structure:

1.    Introduction

2.    Overview of Mining Activity in the District

3.    The List of Mining Leases in the District with location, area and period of validity

4.    Details of Royalty or Revenue received in last three years

5.    Detail of Production of Sand or Bajari or minor mineral in last three years

6.    Process of Deposition of Sediments in the rivers of the District

7.    General Profile of the District

8     Land Utilization Pattern in the district: Forest, Agriculture, Horticulture, Mining etc.

9.    Physiography of the District

10.            Rainfall: month-wise

11. Geology and Mineral Wealth

       In addition to the above, the report shall contain the following:

       (a) District wise detail of river or stream and other sand source.

       (b) District wise availability of sand or gravel or aggregate resources.

       (c)  District wise detail of existing mining leases of sand and aggregates.

A s Survey shall be carried out by the DEIAA with the assistance of Geology Department or Irrigation Department or Forest Department or Public Works Department or Ground Water Boards or Remote Sensing Department or Mining Department etc. in the district.

Drainage system with description of main rivers

Salient Features of Important Rivers and Streams: 

Mineral Potential

Annual Deposition

A Sub-Divisional Committee comprising of Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Officers from Irrigation department, State Pollution Control Board or Committee, Forest department, Geology or mining officer shall visit each site for which environmental clearance has been applied for and make recommendation on suitability of site for mining or prohibition thereof.

Methodology adopted for calculation of Mineral Potential: The mineral potential is calculated based on field investigation and geology of the catchment area of the river or streams. As per the site conditions and location, depth of minable mineral is defined. The area for removal of the mineral in a river or stream can be decided depending on geo-morphology and other factors, it can be 50% to 60% of the area of a particular river or stream. For example in some hill States mineral constituents like boulders, river born Bajri, sand up to a depth of one metre are considered as resource mineral. Other constituents like clay and silt are excluded as waste while calculating the mineral potential of particular river or stream.

The District Survey Report shall be prepared for each minor mineral in the district separately and its draft shall be placed in the public domain by keeping its copy in Collectorate and posting it on district’s website for twenty one days. The comments received shall be considered and if found fit, shall be incorporated in the final Report to be finalised within six months by the DEIAA.

The District Survey Report shall form the basis for application for environmental clearance, preparation of reports and appraisal of projects. The Report shall be updated once every five years.

APPENDIX  XI

(See Paragraph 7 (iii)(b))

PROCEDURE  FOR  ENVIRONMENTAL  CLEARANCE  FOR
MINING  OF  MINOR  MINERALS  INCLUDING  CLUSTER

The following policy shall be followed for environmental clearance of mining of minor minerals including cluster situation—

(1) The data provided by the States (Sustainable Sand Mining Guidelines) shows that most of the mining leases for minor minerals are of lease area less than 5 hectare. It is also reported that in hill States getting a stretch in river with area more than 5 hectare is very uncommon. So the size of lease for minor minerals including river sand mining will be determined by the States as per their circumstances.

(2) The mining of minor minerals is mostly in clusters. The Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan are required to be prepared for the entire cluster in order to capture all the possible externalities. These reports shall capture carrying capacity of the cluster, transportation and related issues, replenishment and recharge issues, geo-hydrological study of the cluster area. The Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan shall be prepared by the State or State nominated Agency or group of project proponents in the Cluster or the project proponent in the cluster.

(3) There shall be one public consultation for entire cluster after which the final Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan report for the cluster shall be prepared.

(4) Environmental clearance shall be applied for and issued to the individual project proponent. The individual lease holders in cluster can use the same Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan for application for environmental clearance. The cluster Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan shall be updated as per need keeping in view any significant change.

(5) The details of cluster Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan shall be reflected in each environmental clearance in that cluster and DEAC, SEAC, and EAC shall ensure that the mitigative measures emanating from the Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan study are fully reflected as environmental clearance conditions in the environmental clearance’s of individual project proponents in that cluster.

(6)  A cluster shall be formed when the distance between the peripheries of one lease is less than 500 metres from the periphery of other lease in a homogeneous mineral area.

(7)  Form 1-M, Pre-feasibility Report and mine plan for Category ‘B2’ projects for mining of minor minerals shall be prepared by the Registered Qualified Person or Accredited Consultants of Quality Council of India, National Accreditation Board for Education and Training. The Environment Impact Assessment or Environment Management Plan for Category ‘A’ and Category ‘Bl’ projects shall be prepared by the accredited consultants of Quality Council of India, National Accreditation Board for Education and Training.

(8)    The SEIAAs shall have supervisory jurisdiction over the DEIAAs and decisions of DEIAA shall be reviewed by the SEIAA without prejudice to any provisions under any existing law.

Foot Note:

* Ed. Note:2012 (1) KLT Suppl.60 (SC).