Adequate compliance with public consultation procedures in EIA processes is essential, but strict adherence to timelines is not mandatory if substantial compliance is established and local stakeholders' concerns are addressed.

ORDER

1. The Applicants who are 10 in number claim to be residents of Village-Kapalkata, Sonapur, District-Kamrup (M), Assam and have filed the present Original Application alleging that the ‘Public Hearing’ conducted on 10.06.2024 to facilitate a fourth cement plant/unit to be set up by the Respondent No.6, M/s Taj Cement Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd., is illegal and in total disregard of the right of the villagers/residents to live in a clean and healthy environment.

2. It is stated that the Respondent No.6, M/s Taj Cement Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as ‘Taj Cement), submitted an application dated 20.07.2023 with SEIAA, Assam for installation of a Split Cement Grinding Unit of capacity 1.0 MTPA at Village-Chamata Pathar, Mouza-Sonapur, District-Kamrup (M), Assam, for grant of Environmental Clearance. It is also stated that SEIAA, Assam, has issued Terms of Reference (TOR) for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)/Environment Management Plan (EMP) dated 03.01.2024

3. It is further stated that on 26.02.2024 the Respondent No.6 submitted the executive summary of the EIA Report, draft EIA Report and other documents to the Assam State Pollution Control Board requesting for conducting ‘Public Hearing’ for the proposed Unit.

4. It is stated that the procedure for ‘Public Hearing’ is provided in Appendix IV of the EIA Notification, 2006 as amended from time to time and is required to be completed within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of the request letter from the Applicant, Project Proponent.

5. It is also stated that the Respondent No.6 submitted request for conducting ‘Public Hearing’ vide its letter dated 26.02.2024 whereas the Public Hearing was conducted on 10.06.2024 i.e. after 106 days from the date of receipt of the request letter. It is stated that as per EIA Notification 2006, the Assam State Pollution Control Board, shall finalize the date, time and exact venue for conduct of ‘Public Hearing’ within seven days of receipt of the draft EIA Report but the Respondent No.3, Assam State Pollution Control Board, could not produce any record on 10.06.2024 to show that the same was done within seven days of the date of receipt of request letter and draft EIA Report.

6. It is alleged that the holding of ‘Public Hearing’ was not adequately advertised resulting in low awareness among the local people of the area though the notice and place of ‘Public Hearing’ is required to be advertised in one major National Daily and one Regional Daily/Official State Language. It is also alleged that newspaper penetration in the villages surrounding Chamata Pathar area is very low and therefore, the authorities should have arranged to inform the public by other means such as beating of drums as well as advertisement/announcement on radio and television but no such measures were taken. It is stated that copy of draft EIA Report was supposedly made available with the President of the Sonapur Gaon Panchayat but the term of office of the President of the said Sonapur Gaon Panchayat had expired earlier in the year and, therefore, it does not carry any official mandate in the said proceedings.

7. Learned Counsel for the Applicant referring to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) Notification dated 14th September, 2006 has referred to paragraph 7(i) thereof which provides the ‘Stages in the Prior Environmental Clearance (EC) Process for New Projects’ which reads as under :-

“7(i) The Environmental clearance process for new projects will comprise of a maximum of four stages, all of which may not apply to particular cases as set forth below in this notification. These four stages in sequential order are :-

• Stage (1) Screening (Only for Category ‘B’ projects and activities)

• Stage (2) Scoping

• Stage (3) Public Consultation

• Stage (4) Appraisal

8. In the present case we are concerned with Stage (3) relating to Public Consultation. Paragraph III of Stage (3) defines “Public Consultation” and states that the