Supreme Court to examine need for a permanent environmental regulator
- August 22, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Supreme Court to examine need for a permanent environmental regulator
Sub: Env
Sec: Env legislation
Context:
- The Supreme Court decided to assess the necessity of establishing a ‘permanent environmental regulator’ akin to those in the telecom and electricity sectors.
Details:
- Justice K.V. Viswanathan noted the existence of regulators in telecom (TRAI) and electricity (CERC) and suggested a similar model for climate and environment regulation.
- Amicus curiae, senior advocate K. Parameshwar, highlighted that current environmental regulators operate in silos, and questioned whether they should be consolidated into a single overarching entity for comprehensive monitoring.
The Current Regulatory Landscape:
- Fragmentation of Authorities: At present, India’s environmental regulatory framework consists of multiple authorities, including the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), the National Green Tribunal (NGT), and various ministries. Each of these bodies has specific mandates and areas of expertise, leading to a lack of coherence in environmental governance.
- Need for Accountability and Effectiveness: The Supreme Court has previously emphasized the importance of accountability and transparency in environmental governance. In earlier rulings, the court mandated regular audits of environmental authorities to ensure their effective functioning. The court’s guidelines aimed to institutionalize these bodies, ensuring they operate with integrity and independence, which is crucial for the protection and restoration of ecological balance.
Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA) Utilization:
CAMPA Funds:
- Whenever forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes, it is mandatory under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 that an equivalent area of non-forest land has to be taken up for compensatory afforestation.
- In addition to this, funds for raising the forest are also to be imposed on whom so ever is undertaking the diversion. The land chosen for afforestation, if viable, must be in close proximity of reserved or protected forest for ease of management by forest department.
- In 2002, the Supreme Court (SC) ordered that a Compensatory Afforestation Fundhad to be created in which all the contributions towards compensatory afforestation and net present value of land had to be deposited.
- In April 2004, Ministry of Environment and Forests constituted Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA)to overlook and manage the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) as directed by the SC. The authority was termed as the ‘custodian’ of the fund.
- Further in 2009, the government ordered that State CAMPAs had to be set upto boost compensatory afforestation at state level and also manage Green India Fund.
- The Supreme Court stated that States and Union Territories must use their CAMPA funds exclusively for restoring green cover lost due to deforestation.
- The court was informed that the utilization of CAMPA funds had been less than 50% in several States and UTs between 2018 and 2024.
- Despite all these efforts, CAG report in 2013 revealed that the CAMPA funds remained unutilised. The report stated that between 2006 and 2012, CAF with ad hoc CAMPA grew from ₹ 1,200 crores to ₹ 23,607 crores.
Statutory backing:
- Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 came into force from 2018. The Act established a National Compensatory Afforestation Fundunder the Public Account of India and State Compensatory Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of each state.
- The payments made for compensatory afforestation, net present value and others related to the project will be deposited in the fund.
- The State Funds will receive 90% of the payments while National Fund will receive remaining 10%. These funds will be regulated by State and National CAMPA.
- The Ministry also stressed that the fund had to be used for important needs such as Compensatory Afforestation, Catchment Area Treatment, Wildlife Management, Assisted Natural Regeneration, Forest Fire Prevention and Control Operations, Soil and Moisture Conservation Works in the forest, Improvement of Wildlife Habitat, Management of Biological Diversity and Biological Resources, Research in Forestry and Monitoring of CAMPA works and others.
Mining Activities Near Conservation Reserves:
- The Supreme Court asked the Centre to consider whether mining activities should be prohibited in areas declared as conservation reserves and community reserves.
- The Bench emphasized that the purpose of these reserves is to ensure corridors for wildlife movement between national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
Source: TH