The 1994 Notification, and the Move to 2006

In one line

India's first assessment regime made the Central Government the sole judge in its own Ministry, gave a project a deemed clearance if the Ministry stayed silent, and was replaced rather than mended.

In the wording a student can write in an examination: the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, S.O. 60(E) of 27 January 1994, made under section 3(1) and clause (v) of section 3(2) of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 read with clause (d) of sub-rule (3) of rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules 1986, was India's first legally binding assessment regime; it was amended eight times between 1994 and 2002 and was superseded by the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2006, S.O. 1533(E) of 14 September 2006, with a transitional provision in paragraph 12 permitting the Central Government to relax or continue its provisions for pending applications for not more than twenty four months, the one year first provided having been extended by S.O. 1737(E) of 11 October 2007.

What the 1994 notification did

The obligation. The expansion or modernisation of any activity, if the pollution load was to exceed the existing one, or a new project listed in Schedule I, shall not be undertaken in any part of India unless it has been accorded environmental clearance by the Central Government in accordance with the procedure specified.

The application. To the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, in the proforma in Schedule II, accompanied by a project report including an environmental impact assessment report, an environment management plan and the details of a public hearing as specified in Schedule IV.

Who decided. The Impact Assessment Agency, which the notification declared would be the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, evaluating and assessing the reports and, if deemed necessary, consulting a Committee of Experts whose composition was in Schedule III and which the Agency itself constituted. The Committee had a full right of entry and inspection of the site or factory at any time before, during or after the operations.

Site clearance. For six kinds of site-specific project, mining, pit-head thermal power stations, hydro-power and major irrigation and flood control, ports and harbours other than minor ports, and prospecting and exploration of major minerals above five hundred hectares, the project authorities had to intimate the location while initiating investigation and surveys, and the Ministry conveyed a decision on the suitability of the site within thirty days, that site clearance being for a sanctioned capacity and valid five years.

Time limits. Assessment within ninety days of receipt of the requisite documents and completion of the public hearing, with the decision conveyed within thirty days thereafter. Clearance valid five years for commencement of construction or operation.