Petition at Madras High Court insists on studying climate change while preparing Environment Impact Assessment reports
The Hindu
Madras High Court seeks Centre's response on including climate change in EIA reports for large-scale projects.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, sought a response from the Centre, to a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that insisted on studying the aspect of climate change too, while preparing Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) reports for large-scale projects.
The First Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq said, the plea, made by G. Sundarrajan of Poovulagin Nanbargal, an environmental organisation, appeared to be just and called for the Centre’s reply to it within two weeks.
The petitioner’s counsel M. Radhakrishnan brought it to the notice of the court that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had issued an EIA notification in 2006 in exercise of the powers conferred upon it under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
The 2006 EIA notification states that certain large-scale construction projects must be undertaken only after obtaining prior environment clearances either from the Centre or the State-level EIA Authority, depending upon the category in which those projects fall.
The grant of environment clearance has four stages - Screening, Scoping, Public Consultation and Appraisal. Para 7II(i) of the EIA notification deals with Scoping, the process by which the expert appraisal committee determines the terms of reference by addressing all relevant environmental concerns for preparation of the EIA report.
However, Para 7II(i) does not speak about ‘climate change’ though it is one of the most important environmental concerns for the preparation of the EIA report, the counsel said and contended that its absence would render the entire paragraph unconstitutional in the light of recent Supreme Court rulings.
The Supreme Court had, in the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai versus Ankita Sinha case, said: “It is vital for the wellbeing of the nation and its people to have a flexible mechanism to address all issues pertaining to environmental damage and resultant climate change so that we can leave behind a better environmental legacy for our children and the generations thereafter.”