The Procedure for Obtaining Public Participation
Chapter One Hundred Seventy
Syllabus topic 6, "Emerging Legal Controls"
Pages 826 to 832 of 913
In one line
MU asks for the procedure in terms, so this chapter is the sequence: how a person gets the documents, how the hearing is called, what happens in the room, and what may be done afterwards.
The University has printed the words "explain the procedure to obtain it" alongside its question on public participation. That is a request for steps, dates and names of offices. What follows is the whole procedure in three parts: the route before a law, the route before a project, and the route after a decision.
Part one, the procedure before a rule or notification is made
Step one, the draft. Under rule 5(3) of the Environment (Protection) Rules 1986 the Central Government publishes the proposed notification in draft in the Gazette, stating that it will be taken into consideration on or after the expiry of a stated period.
Step two, the period. Sixty days from the date on which copies of the Gazette containing the draft are made available to the public.
Step three, the objection. Any person interested may forward objections or suggestions in writing to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, at the address stated, or to the electronic mail address the draft gives.
Step four, consideration. The Central Government must duly consider the objections and suggestions received within the period, and the final notification recites that it has done so.
Step five, the final notification, published in the Gazette, from which date it operates.
A worked instance. The Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2006 recites that the draft was published as S.O. 1324(E) of 15 September 2005, that copies were made available to the public on that date, that objections were invited within sixty days, and that all objections and suggestions received were duly considered. The Ecomark Rules 2024 recite the same sequence beginning with the draft Ecomark Certification Rules 2023, S.O. 4441(E) of 11 October 2023.
Part two, the procedure before a project is cleared
The stages themselves are set out in the chapter on public consultation. What follows is the same sequence read as a procedure, that is as a set of acts by named persons with dates attached, which is what the examiner's word asks for.
Who does what, and by when.
| Step | Who acts | Trigger | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | the applicant | after scoping, on the draft report | writes to the Member-Secretary of the Board |
| 2 | the applicant | with that letter | ten hard and ten soft copies, Summary in English and the local language, copies to five offices |
| 3 | the offices, all but the Regional Office | on receiving them | publicise, and keep the draft open to inspection until the hearing is over |
| 4 | the Board and the regulatory authority | on the written request | Summary and application on the websites within seven days |
| 5 | the Member-Secretary | on receiving the draft | fix date, time and venue within seven days; advertise in one national and one vernacular daily; thirty days' minimum notice |
| 6 | the District Magistrate | only on an untoward emergency | recommend a postponement, re-notified in the same dailies, then at least fifteen days' notice |
| 7 | the District Magistrate or an officer authorised under Appendix IV | at the hearing | preside, with the Board video filming and no quorum required |
| 8 | the Board's representative | at the close | record the summary, read it over in the vernacular, and have it signed the same day |
| 9 | the applicant | after the consultation | address all material environmental concerns and revise the report and the management plan |
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