Environment Impact Assessment:

Impact assessment refers to the method to be adopted in order to ensure that any proposed
activity do not leave adverse impact on environment. Hence it requires identifying the probable
adverse consequences and averring them wherever required. It is in a way application of
precautionary principle i.e. anticipating and attacking the causes of environment degradation.
Whoever takes up any activity which might lead to adverse environment impact they should
shoulder the responsibility of mitigating the impact as well. The Central Government has issued
the Environment Impact Assessment Notification in the year 1994 which was amended several
times. An amendment made to this Notification in the year 1997 made public hearing mandatory.
Impact assessment would be mandatory for the industries/activities/ projects in the schedule.
However this notification and all the subsequent amendments are superseded in 2006 by a new
notification.
The Central Government issued the Notification concerning impact assessment on September 14,
2006 whereby the earlier notification dated 27-01-1994 and all the amendments made to it from
time to time are thereby superseded. The Notification makes the formal declaration of super
session as follows:
The Central Government 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 and in super session of the notification number S.O. 60 (E) dated the 27 th January, 1994, except in
respect of things done or omitted to be done before such super session, hereby directs that on and from the date of its
publication the required construction of new projects or activities or the expansion or modernization of existing projects
or activities listed in the Schedule to this notification entailing capacity addition with change in process and or technology
shall be undertaken in any part of India only after the prior environmental clearance from the Central Government or as the
case may be, by the State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority, duly constituted by the Central Government
under sub-section (3) of section 3 of the said Act, in accordance with the procedure specified hereinafter in this
notification.

The 2006 notification has changed the entire procedure and brought out many changes compared
to the earlier one.
All new projects, expansion of existing projects, product-mix activities and projects require prior
environment clearance if they are listed in the schedule. The projects and activities listed in
category A of the schedule require clearance from the regulatory authority constituted by Central

Government i.e. Ministry of Environment and Forests whereas the projects and activities listed in
Category B require to obtain clearance from State Environment Impact Assessment Authority.
The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority is to be constituted under section 3 (3) of
Environment protection Act 1986.
State Environment Impact Assessment Authority shall consist of a chairman, member secretary and
other members. The Notification states the composition of State Environment Impact Assessment
Authority as follows:
A State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority hereinafter referred to as the SEIAA shall be constituted
by the Central Government under sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 comprising
of three Members including a Chairman and a Member Secretary to be nominated by the State Government or the
Union territory Administration concerned.
1 The Member-Secretary shall be a serving officer of the concerned State Government or Union
territory administration familiar with environmental laws.
2 The other two Members shall be either a professional or expert fulfilling the eligibility criteria
given in Appendix VI to this notification.
3 One of the specified Members in sub-paragraph (3) above who is an expert in the Environmental
Impact Assessment process shall be the Chairman of the SEIAA.
4 The State Government or Union territory Administration shall forward the names of the Members
and the Chairman referred in sub- paragraph 3 to 4 above to the Central Government and the
Central Government shall constitute the SEIAA as an authority for the purposes of this notification
within thirty days of the date of receipt of the names.
5 The non-official Member and the Chairman shall have a fixed term of three years (from the date of
the publication of the notification by the Central Government constituting the authority).
All decisions of the SEIAA shall be unanimous and taken in a meeting.

If the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority is not constituted in any state then the
Category B project will be deemed to be Category A project and proceeded accordingly. The State
Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) will base its decision of granting prior
environment clearance on the basis of the recommendations of the State Expert Appraisal Committee
(SEAC) to be constituted as per the Notification. The Central Government will grant prior
environmental clearance for category A projects on the basis of the recommendations of the Expert
Appraisal Committee (EAC) to be constituted as per the Notification. The State Environment Impact
Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) will be constituted
by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government. If in any State the State
Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) or the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC)
is not constituted then a category B project shall be treated as category A project.

The notification provides for four stages for prior environment clearance. However not all stages apply
to all projects. The four stages are
1) Screening
2) Scoping
3) Public Consultancy
4) Appraisal
The State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) shall screen, scope and appraise projects or
activities in category B while Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) shall screen, scope and
appraise projects or activities in category A.
Screening
During this process the appraisal authority shall determine whether there is a requirement of
Environment Impact Assessment Report to be submitted as per the guidelines given by the
central government in this context. If the project requires Environment Impact Assessment
Report as per the guidelines then the next procedure scoping will be undertaken. The projects
which require furnishing Environment Impact Assessment Report are classified as B 1 while the
projects which do not require furnishing Environment Impact Assessment Report are classified
as B 2 category of industries.
Scoping
During this process the appraisal committee will determine the Terms of Reference (TOR) for
category A and B 1 projects. Terms of Reference will be conveyed to the applicant within 60
days of receipt of the application in prescribed format. If the authority do not convey terms of
reference within stipulated time then the Terms of Reference of the applicant shall be deemed to
be accepted. Any application for prior Environment clearance may be rejected at this stage
within the stipulated 60 days. The approved Terms of Reference shall be displayed on the
website of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the State Environment Impact

Assessment Authority. The detailed and comprehensive Terms of Reference accepted shall help
in the preparation of Environment Impact Assessment Report.

Public Consultation
This process involves obtaining and receiving objections and other concerns of local affected
persons and others who have a stake in the project and its impact.
All A and B 1 category projects require public consultation. Certain projects are exempted from
public consultation.
All A and B 1 category projects require public consultation except the following:
(a)

Modernization of irrigation projects (item 1(c) (ii) of the Schedule).

(b)

all projects or activities located within industrial estates or parks (item 7(c)
of the Schedule) approved by the concerned authorities, and which are not
disallowed in such approvals.

(C)

expansion of Roads and Highways (item 7 (f) of the Schedule) which do not
involve any further acquisition of land.

(d)

all Building /Construction projects/Area Development projects and

Townships (item 8).

(e)

all Category B2 projects and activities.

(f)

all projects or activities concerning national defence and security or

involving other strategic considerations as determined by the Central
Government.

Public consultation is envisaged in two ways, firstly at site or close to the site for ascertaining
concerns of the local affected people secondly, obtaining written response from concerned
persons having stake in the impact of the project.
Public Hearing
Public Hearing should be conducted by the State Pollution Control Board or the Union Territory
Pollution Control Committee within 45 days from the date of receiving the application from the

project proponent to this effect. The proceedings of the public hearing should be forwarded to the
concerned regulatory authority. If the State Pollution Control Board or the Union Territory
Pollution Control Committee is not able to complete the public hearing within the stipulated 45
days then the regulatory authority shall engage another public agency or authority not
subordinate to the regulatory authority to complete the process within a further 45 day period and
furnish the regulatory authority the proceedings. If the public agency finds that it is not possible
to conduct the public hearing in a manner which will enable them to elicit views of the
concerned local people it will submit a report accordingly to the regulatory authority. The
regulatory authority may consider the report and other reliable information that it may have in
that regard and decide that the public consultation in that case need not include public hearing.
Written Response
Within seven days after receiving the application for public hearing the State Pollution Control
Board or the Union Territory Pollution Control Committee shall invite written responses by
placing on their website the summary Environment Impact Assessment report prepared in the
prescribed format. However confidential information involving Intellectual Property Right or
other non-disclosable information shall not be placed on the website. The regulatory authority
shall also provide draft Environment Impact Assessment report on a written request. The
regulatory authority may also use other methods to ensure wide publicity about the project or
activity.
After the public hearing and the written responses are received the regulatory authority shall
forward all to the applicant. The applicant shall address all environmental concerns raised during
this process and make suitable changes in the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report
and the Environment Management Plan (EMP). The final report or a supplementary report to the
draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report and the Environment Management Plan shall
be submitted by the applicant for appraisal.
Appraisal
State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) or the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC)
accordingly shall consider the final Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report and the out

come of public consultation and other documents if necessary and make recommendations to the
regulatory authority. The Appraisal committee may also seek necessary clarifications from the
project proponent. The State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) or the Expert Appraisal
Committee (EAC) may recommend granting prior environmental clearance on stipulated terms
and conditions or rejecting the applications recording the reasons for the same. The projects
which do not require scoping or public consultancy shall be appraised based on the applications
made in the prescribed format.
The recommendations of the appraisal committee shall be public documents. The appraisal shall
be completed within 60 days of the receipt of final Environment Impact Assessment Report and
other documents, where public consultation is not necessary within 60 days of the receipt of the
application form in prescribed format
Prior Environmental Clearance
Based on the recommendations of the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) or the Expert
Appraisal Committee (EAC) the regulatory authority shall grant prior environmental clearance
within 45 days of the receipt of the recommendations of the appraisal committee. If the
regulatory authority does not accept the recommendations it shall request the State Expert
Appraisal Committee (SEAC) or the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) to reconsider the
recommendations and state the reasons for disagreement. The State Expert Appraisal Committee
(SEAC) or the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) shall reconsider the recommendations within
60 days from the date of receipt for reconsideration. Within 30 days from the date of receiving
the recommendations the regulatory authority shall convey the decision regarding the grant or
rejection of the prior environmental clearance to the applicant. The decision of the regulatory
authority shall be final. Any deliberate concealment of material information at any stage shall
lead to the cancellation of the prior environment clearance granted.
The environmental clearance granted is valid for a period of five years generally which can be
extended by regulatory authority upon application fro a maximum period of five years. The
validity period for river valley projects is 10 years and for mining projects it can be granted for a
period depending upon the project not exceeding 30 years in any case.

Post Environmental Clearance

The management of the project which obtained prior environmental clearance shall submit to the
regulatory authority compliance report every six months. All the compliance reports shall be
public documents and shall be displayed on the website of the regulatory authority.
Environmental clearance granted to any project proponent may be transferred to any person
legally entitled to operate the project provided the transfer is made within the validity period.
Impact assessment has always been controversial not because of the procedure required to be
adopted but rather the way in which it has been complied with. It is often alleged that the
procedure is followed just to ensure procedural compliance rather than it is followed in spirit
which defeats the very purpose of impact assessment.