EIA draft notification 2020: Karnataka HC restrains Centre from publishing final notification till September 7
The court noted that the people had not been given sufficient time to file their objections amid the coronavirus crisis.
“Prima facie it appears to us that the right of the citizens of raising objections to the Draft notification has been taken away….Therefore, we grant limited interim relief. We restrain the respondents from publishing final notification on the basis of the impugned Draft Notification, 2020 till the next date of hearing.” – Karnataka High Court
The Karnataka High Court today restrained the Central government from publishing the final version of the Draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020, till September 7.
The bench, however, said that if the Centre is willing to grant sufficient time to the people to file their objections, it could apply for vacating the interim relief. The court’s next hearing in the case will be on September 7.
In its order, the Court further said that the Centre cannot proceed with publishing the Final Notification without verifying whether sufficient publicity has been given to the Draft EIA notification, 2020.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi passed the order after hearing a PIL filed by the United Conservation Movement Charitable and Welfare Trust.
The ministry issued the draft EIA on March 23, 2020 inviting objections or suggestions over imposing certain restrictions and prohibition of projects like SEZ, expansion or modernisation of existing projects entailing capacity addition in any part of India. The last date for submitting objections is August 11, 2020.
During the hearing, the counsel of the ministry contended that they have published the draft notification in the gazette in Hindi and English and requested the respective state environment authorities and pollution control boards to take steps to give wide publicity about notification in vernacular languages. The ministry is also considering extending the deadline for receiving objections in view of COVID-19, he argued.
However, the bench said there was no change in the ministry’s stand and no records were placed before the court about their request to the state authorities to give wide publicity, despite repeated opportunities given.
In June, the Delhi High Court had also rebuked the Centre for not addressing the ambiguity in its order to extend time granted for submission of objections to the proposed EIA till June 30. The court said the Centre’s May 8 notification about extension mentioned a “further period” of 60 days and also said that the window to file objections would close on June 30. The court had extended the time to submit objections to the draft 2020 Environment Impact Assessment notification till August 11.
During the hearing, the Court had repeatedly asked Central government counsel Shiva Kumar whether reasonable time would be granted for citizens to file objections after wide publicity is given to the Draft EIA notification, 2020.
However, Central government counsel Shiva Kumar was unable to give a positive response. This prompted the Court the pass the aforesaid order.
