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Journalism of Courage
The government is proposing to make violations of green laws,including the non-compliance of conditions specified while granting approvals,a cognizable and non-bailable offence.
The Environment Ministry said today that it was accepting,in full,the recommendations of a committee it had set up to examine issues regarding compliance of environmental conditions by companies while executing their projects.
The committee,headed by Special Secretary in the Ministry J M Mauskar,has claimed that provisions under the existing law (Environment Protection Act,1986) were neither deterrent nor punitive enough.
Recommending enhancement of penalties in the Environment Protection Act,the committee has said that the violations of the Act,including non-compliance of conditions,should be made a cognizable and non-bailable offence. It has also recommended that the quantum of penalty be enhanced to a sufficiently high level and that there should be no upper limit in this regard for serious violations.
As of now,the Environment Protection Act provides for a maximum of three years of imprisonment and Rs 1 lakh in fine in serious cases of violation but there is hardly any conviction on these charges. In many instances,environment pollution can even result in deaths to people. So penal provisions regarding callous violations of environmental laws need to be enhanced, said a member of the committee.
To implement the recommendations of the committee,the government will need to amend the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act. A fine of Rs 1 lakh was not very stringent even in 1986. In todays world,it is almost non-existent, said another member of the committee.
The committee has also recommended a strengthening of the monitoring agencies like the Central Pollution Control Board,its state affiliates,the Coastal Zone Management Authorities,both in terms of human resources as well as technical capabilities.
