November 9, 2012
To
Smt Jayanathi Natarajan,
Union Minister of state (IC) of Environment
and Forests
Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi 110003
Sub: Violations of CIC
orders in consideration of environmental clearances
Respected Madam,
1. The Central
Information Commission, through its order dated January 18, 2012 (the order is
attached for ready reference), had directed the MEF that with effect from April
1, 2012, the MEF should put up all relevant documents that the project proponent
submit to the ministry while applying for environment clearance, including Form
1 or 1A as applicable. The order said, "These directions are being given by the Commission under
its powers under Section 19(8)(a)(iii) of the RTI Act. It is also in
conformance with the requirements of Section 4(1)(b)(xvii). This order is
prospective and will apply to all documents received by the Ministry from
March 2012 onwards."
2. Following a
complaint filed by Himanshu Thakkar of SANDRP to the CIC that the above mentioned
order is not being complied with, the CIC had issued a notice to the MEF on May
18, 2012 (order is attached), which inter alia said, "The Commission has
looked at the website of the Ministry and it appears that the direction of the
Commission as mentioned above has been only partially complied with, and finds
that the Complainant's contention appears to be true. You are directed to
ensure that the complete information as directed in the Commission's order is
put up on the website of the Ministry by 11 June 2012 failing which the
Commission would take punitive action under RTI Act."
3. We have noticed,
however, that the MEF has been putting before the EAC projects without adhering
to the CIC orders. For example, the latest meeting of the EAC for the River
Valley projects is to happen on Nov 23-24, 2012, however, Form 1 and other
relevant documents are not available on the website of the MEF for any of the
projects under consideration. This is clearly in violation of the CIC
orders.
4.. We appreciate that
you had directed that the FAC meeting to be held on Oct 30-31, 2012 be
postponed till the MEF follows similar directions issued by the CIC for
projects being considered for forest clearance and subsequently, the MEF has
put up Form A for the projects to be considered for forest clearance in the
next meeting.
We hope you will
ensure that the CIC orders are implemented before any new projects are taken up
by EAC or by MoEF for environment clearance, as also other aspects of the CIC
orders are implemented. We hope the relevant documents including Form 1 (with
all annexures), EIA, public hearing minutes and other relevant documents are
available on the MoEF website at least two weeks (preferably a month) before
the projects are considered by EAC.
Thanking you for your
consideration, we will look forward to hearing from you.
We
are copying this to the officials of the Ministry, including the member
secretary of EAC on River Valley and hydropower projects and also
members of the EAC on RVP, for their information and also necessary
action. We urge EAC not to take up consideration of any projects in
violation of the CIC orders.
EAS
Sarma, Former Secretary, Govt of
India, Vishakhapatnam, eassarma@gmail.com
Neeraj
Vagholikar, Kalpavriksh, Pune, nvagho@gmail.com
Samir Mehta, River Basin
Organisation, Mumbai, samir.meht@gmail.com
Manshi
Asher, Himdhara, Palampur, Himachal
Pradesh, manshi.asher@gmail.
E
Theophilus, Malika Virdi, K Ramnarayan,
Himal Prakriti, Munsiari, Uttarakhand, etheophilus@gmail.com
Bharat Jhunjhunwala, former prof of IIM
Bangalore, Uttarakhand, bharatjj@gmail.com
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