Joint Committee report in reference to the National Green Tribunal in the matter of the Original Application No. 327/2021 (Rajjan Vs State of Uttar Pradesh & Others).

Grievance in the application is that cluster EIA procedure was required to be followed before grant of EC for sand mining, village Adhawaal, tehsil Fatehpur, district Fatehpur - having regard to the location of the sites, for which impugned EC has been granted in favour of Limelight Dealers Pvt. Ltd., M/s Pragyasan Business Pvt. Ltd., M/s Alok Mishra and M/s Anantadrishti Multiventures LLP.

The committee visited the site, March 16, 2022 to verify the actual status. The committee in its report said that the environmental clearances have been issued based on the "erroneous cluster certificates given by the mining department." As of now, SEIAA has no mechanism to cross verify the data provided by the mining department. Similarly, the compliance of the various conditions of EC and consent have neither been strictly ensured nor been verified by the concerned departments. Due to these lacunae several environmental, technical and administrative duties have been piling up in the matter.

The Joint Committee recommended that :

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• SEIAA, Uttar Pradesh should be asked to review the environmental clearance issued to them to said project proponents in accordance with the provisions of the EIA Notification 2006 and its subsequent amendments
• The mining department needs to develop SOP for issuing cluster certificates in future to eliminate erroneous certifications
• The Department of Environment can be asked to develop a mechanism for cross verification of the data provided by the mining department. SEIAA, UP should consider the findings of the replenishment study and district survey before issuing the EC pertaining to river bed mining cases.