The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is set to give teeth to the Environment Protection Act by increasing penalties against those breaking environmental laws.
Sounding a despairing note, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan told this reporter, “The present `1 lakh penalty for environmental violations is ridiculous. The penalty should be both imprisonment as well as financial penalty. Environmental violation should be taken very seriously. We are reviewing it and I believe it was absolutely pathetic to have `1 lakh as a penalty for violating environmental norms. So I would like to really make it a very stiff penalty, but I would not quantify now.”
She said discussions within ministries were going on the issue and the proposal warrants amending the existing act. “It also needs clearance of the Cabinet and later from Parliament. Environmental violations need to be taken seriously. We have set up a committee to look into this whole matter and the ministry will need to amend the Environment Protection Act and its rules,” the minister said.
Amongst the many recommendations that the committee has made is to make the violation of the EPA a non-bailable offence.
The committee headed by senior ministry official J.M. Mauskar has also suggested that there should be no ceiling on the penalty amount.
Since the entire process would take time, the committee has suggested that the ministry should examine alternative mechanisms which could be adopted for imposing large financial penalties for non-compliance of environmental clearance conditions till the act is amended.