Adani Green advisor in hydel appraisal committee of Environment Ministry

The first meeting of the reconstituted EAC (hydel) was held on October 17-18. Records show Chaudhary attended the meeting on October 17, the day AGEL’s 1500 mw Tarali Pumping Storage Project in Maharashtra’s Satara came up for consideration.

AGEL sought an amendment in the project’s Terms of Reference (ToR) for a revision of the project layout after it realised that the proposed water conductor system passed “just below an existing wind farm” and that construction underground or below the wind turbines foundations would be difficult.

After detailed deliberation, the EAC recommended in favour of AGEL.

While the minutes of the meeting do not record any recusal, Choudhury, when contacted by The Indian Express, said he did not take part in the discussion when the EAC considered the AEGL project. “I abstained when the matter came up,” he said. When told that the minutes do not reflect this, he said, “We will amend the minutes.”

The EAC gives the green stamp of approval to projects — indeed, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification issued in 2006 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, requires certain categories of projects to obtain prior environmental clearance (EC). Ten EACs examine these proposals in different sectors and decide on the clearance.

Choudhary retired as Director (Technical) of NHPC in March 2020 and has been an advisor (pumped storage plants and hydro) of Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) since April 2022.

His appointment as an EAC member potentially raises questions of conflict of interest as AGEL’s pumped storage projects come up before this EAC for clearance.

Currently, AGEL projects before the EAC include: 850 mw Raiwada; 1800 mw Pedakota (both Andhra Pradesh); 2100 mw Patgaon, 2,450 mw Koyna-Nivakane, 1500 mw Malshej Ghat Bhorande and 1500 mw Tarali (all Maharashtra).

The company has plans to develop another 3.7 giga watt of pumped storage — 1,200 mw Kurukutti, 1,000 mw Karrivalasa, 1,000 mw in Gandikota and 500 mw Chitravathi — with an investment of Rs 15,740 crore in Andhra Pradesh.

Yogendra Pal Singh, scientist (E) with the ministry and the member secretary of the EAC concerned, confirmed that Choudhary did not join the discussion on the AEGL project.

A senior ministry official, however, referred to multiple Supreme Court orders to point out the “serious downside of such appointments becoming routine” in appraisal committees.

“Mere non-participation in the discussion by a member while his or her employer’s projects are considered is not sufficient. What about the projects of his or her employer’s competitors? Or the scope for quid pro quo when such members return one another the favour even while abstaining from directly linked projects? More than establishing bias, the possibility of such bias is what matters,” he said.

Asked about these possibilities, G H Chakrapani, a professor at IIT-Roorkee and chairperson of the EAC concerned, said, “Our appointment conditions say that those who have provided consultancy services for a project proponent will recuse themselves from the process of appraisal of any project proposed by such proponents. We go by our rules.”

Choudhary defended his position. “The ministry is aware that I am an advisor with a private company. But I am nobody’s employee and I can advise others as well. My EAC appointment is on the basis that as a member I will give my opinion in the interest of the EAC,” he said.

The other non-institutional members of the EAC (hydel) are Udaykumar R Yaragatti, professor at National Institute of Technology Karnataka; Mukesh Sharma, professor at IIT-Kanpur; V Tyagi, former director of National Institute of Hydrology; Kartik Sapre, chief executive of Narmada Samagra Nyas; and Ajay Kumar Lal, former Indian Forest Service officer. EAC members have a tenure of three years.