Environmental clearance at the national level is overseen by an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), which functions on an ad-hoc basis, without much regulatory capacity. The EAC has been questioned on many occasions for lack of expertise of its members and chairpersons. The state-level appraisal committees overseeing the clearance also function without much regulatory support. EAC and the state-level committees are toothless due to the lack of effective legislative power and supporting institutional capacity.
The Supreme Court had asked the central government in 2011 to set up an independent environment regulator to oversee the clearance process. But this is yet to become a reality. The lack of an independent regulatory body for environmental protection is a pertinent concern relating to EIA and environmental legal framework in India.
Read the entire article by Deva Prasad M, faculty at IIM Kozhikode, and Suchithra Menon C, assistant professor, Sai University Chennai and faculty at Daksha Fellowship at
India’s environmental laws require a fundamental shift. Like an independent regulator
