After months of deliberations with state governments and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the environment ministry has issued a draft of the Environment Laws (Amendment) Act, 2015, that will scale up monetary punishment for 'substantial environmental damage' to a minimum of Rs 5 crore while retaining penal provisions. Soon after the BJP government came into power, the environment ministry ushered in a flurry of changes to aide 'ease of business' and amending the Environment Protection Act,1986, to do away with penal provisions was on the cards. While some ministries supported doing away with penal provisions, the PMO was against it and the environment ministry has eventually had to reverse its stand.
Under the draft amendments, "anyone causing substantial damage to the environment within an area not exceeding five kilometers radial distance from the project's outer boundary shall be liable to a penalty of not less than Rs 5 crore and the penalty may increase to Rs 10 crore incase the damage continues." While presently the state pollution control boards act as appellate authorities for assessing the environmental damage caused by industries, the draft has made provisions for appointing an adjudicating authority. In most cases, it is found that the state boards collect bank guarantees from polluters while giving them an opportunity to resume operations immediately.
Under the new clauses the adjudicating authority, involving district judges and central bureaucrats, are to assess the damage and impose fines accordingly. The industries have also been allowed to approach the National Green Tribunal to challenge penalties, only after paying up 75 per cent of the penalties.
The draft provides for a harsher monetary penalty if a large area has been adversely affected by environmental damage and if the damage continues for several days then an additional penalty of Rs.50 lakh would be slapped on the industry for each day. The increase in monetary penalty is sizeable compared to the earlier provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. In the original Act, the polluter had to pay a penalty of Rs.1 lakh on conviction with an additional fine of Rs.5,000 per day in case environmental damage continued.
While increasing the penalty slabs subject to the severity and extent of environmental damage, the violations have also been categorized into 'minor, non-substantial and substantial'. Along with the harsher monetary penalties, an industry owner can also land in jail for seven years if convicted for environmental damage and a fine of ten crore rupees would also be imposed.
As per the draft, the penalties collected for environmental damage would go into a consolidated fund. This fund is to be used to mitigate the polluted areas. The environment ministry has now sought suggestions and objections on the draft amendments during a fortnight's time.
