Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding lack of EC in construction of buildings, Jharkhand, 02/09/2019

Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of R. K. Singh Vs Union of India & Others dated 02/09/2019 regarding non-implementation of Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 in the State of Jharkhand in respect of building constructions. It is stated that the State of Jharkhand has undertaken various major constructions of buildings particularly in the cities of Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Deogarh without obtaining mandatory prior environmental clearance under the EIA Notification, 2006 even when it is mandatory in respect of structures having more than 20,000 Sq. Ms. which is categorized as Category 8(a) under the notification. Specific mention has been made of the Jharkhand High Court Building, Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha, P & M Hi-Tech City Centre Mall, Jamshedpur, Vijaya Garden Homes and Aastha Twin City. Apart from the above, it is stated that there are large number of other structures and, as per the information obtained from the State Government under the RTI application, only 20 buildings and construction projects have thus far applied for environmental clearance as of now from the year 2006. As a consequence, the ecology of the State has been affected due to detrimental impact on the air quality, depletion of quality of the ground water and adverse impact on soil fertility caused by indiscriminate disposal of construction and demolition waste.

NGT directs constitution of a Committee comprising of the representative of the Regional Office of the MoEF&CC at Bhubaneswar and representative of the SEIAA, Jharkahand. SEIAA, Jharkhand shall be the nodal agency for coordination and logistic support. In the event the facts as set-out in the application are found to be correct, appropriate action in accordance with law be initiated to remedy the situation.