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While noting the ambiguity in the ministry’s decision extending time
till June 30 for giving objections and suggestions to its draft EIA 2020, a
bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said "it was
“surprised” by “obstinacy” of the Centre with regard to not addressing the
“ambiguity”."
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New Delhi (Agencies) : The
Delhi High Court Tuesday extended till August 11 the time period for giving
suggestions to the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020
and said that the court was surprised at the Centre’s “obstinacy” in not
addressing the “ambiguity” in it. June 30 was the new deadline set by the
Environment Ministry for the objections.
While noting the ambiguity in
the ministry’s decision extending time till June 30 for giving objections and
suggestions to its draft EIA 2020, a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and
Justice Prateek Jalan said “it was “surprised” by “obstinacy” of the Centre
with regard to not addressing the “ambiguity”.”
The detailed order on the direction
issued by the court is awaited.
The court was hearing a plea
by environmentalist Vikrant Tongad, who has sought extension of the timeline
granted to the public to give suggestions regarding the EIA 2020, ending on
June 30, to September 30 or till the time the Covid-19 lockdown subsists.
The bench passed the order and
extended the time, after the ministry did not address the court’s query
regarding “ambiguity” in its decision.
Senior advocate Gopal
Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Tongad, submitted that it was “disturbing” that
the government, as per its affidavit, has sent e-mails to over 78,000 project
proponents informing them about the draft EIA and inviting their suggestions,
but was not willing to publish it in vernacular languages so that everyone who
would be affected by such projects can also give their view.
Additional Solicitor General
Maninder Acharya, appearing for the Centre, submitted that the draft EIA 2020
was published on April 11 and 60 days from then was to expire on June 11, but
in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to extend the period till June
30.
Earlier, the High Court had
observed that there is ambiguity in the May 8 notification and had asked the
Central government how it will be resolved. In the last hearing, it had issued
notice to the Centre and sought their response on the matter.
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During the hearing today,
referring to the response filed by the ministry in Tongad’s plea, the bench
orally observed that “absolutely no effort has been made to address the court’s
query on ambiguity. Your reply is conspicuously silent about it. It amounts to
not answering our query.”
It said that it was not
pleased with “this attitude” of the government and added that the process of
public consultation was “not an obstacle”. “It (consultation) has some
importance, it has some sanctity,” it said.
As per the petition, on March
23 this year, the ministry published a draft notification on Environmental
Impact Assessment and sought objections or suggestions from members of the
public.
The petition claimed that the
May 8 notification states the period for inviting objections has been extended
by another 60 days, but it is not clear as to when the initial period of 60
days commenced.
“If the sixty-day period commences on the date
of the draft notification, i.e., March 23, 2020, the extended date of expiry
will be July 18, 2020. If the date of notification in the Gazette (i.e. April
11, 2020) is taken as the start of the sixty-day period, the extended date of
expiry will be August 9, 2020,” the petition said.
It contended that the postal
services have been suspended, in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, on account of
which citizens cannot send their objections to the government.
“As a result of this, the members of public
have been unable to comment on a substantive notification that completely
supersedes and replaces the existing environmental norms,” the plea added.
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