NDA’s decisions helped Vedanta bypass consultations
The controversial expansion of Vedanta’s 1,200 tonne per day copper smelter in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, has been stayed by the high court after people protesting against the company were shot dead by the state police. The court ordered that the company consult people before building the plant — something the company claimed it was legally not required to do. State Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami believes the shooting was a natural reaction and claimed his government was taking legal steps to close down the project. How did it take off in the first place? Vedanta claims it legally got an environmental clearance from the Union government to double the capacity of the smelter without consulting people. A perusal of Union environment ministry’s and several court records show that the NDA government made an interpretation to green regulations in December 2014, which helped plants such as Vedanta’s at Thoothukudi to be built without consulting people of the project-affected area. This exception in the environmental safety regulations was made on the request of various industries, show court and government documents seen by Business Standard. The exception was carved out through orders of the then environment minister and called a ‘clarification’. This clarification would allow Vedanta and several others to start constructing their plants, such as the one in Thoothukudi, without public consultations. This interpretation by the NDA government was fortuitous for companies because the environment ministry under the UPA had insisted in May 2014 that projects such as Vedanta’s in Thoothukudi were required by the law to first go through public consultations. In 2016, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) found the December orders of the NDA government, which favoured Vedanta, to be illegal. It had to go to the point of threatening bailable orders against environment ministry officials in the case to divulge information on the matter. Ministry officials said rescinding the government’s December 2014 orders would adversely impact many projects. Eventually, the NGT quashed the December 2014 orders. On the NGT’s instructions, the ministry had to pass fresh orders stating projects in industrial parks without environmental clearances needed to conduct public hearings. But, by then, Vedanta had secured an extension of the green clearance to expansion in Thoothukudi without the need for a public hearing. It is citing this 2016 ruling of the NGT and other facts that came to light during the case, that the high court on Wednesday ordered Vedanta to stop its expansion plans and go back to first consult the people. The usual green clearance regulations All large scale industrial projects require a environmental clearance from the Union environment ministry. The project developer first prepares a report laying out how the industry would impact the people and environment in the vicinity of the project site. It then presents this report to public for consultations under supervision of the state. Experts of the Union environment ministry study the results and the environmental impact assessment to decide if the project should be given a nod. People cannot veto the project during consultations but their concerns have to be addressed by the company and the Union government before the project can take off. The environment clearance regulations, dating back to 2006, make exceptions to the need for public hearing in select cases. If a small industry is set up inside designated industrial park, which itself has an environmental clearance, then the specific industry is allowed to bypass public consultations. During the UPA government’s tenure in May 2014, questions were raised with the government about this exception. What if the industrial park is established so long ago that it came up before the environmental regulations of 2006 were in place and the industrial park itself has no environmental clearance? Would industries in such cases too not need to consult the project-affected people? On May 16, 2014, the environment ministry under the UPA clarified, saying industries could bypass public consultations only if the industrial parks that were to being built inside had an environmental clearance. If the industrial park had not been assessed for environmental safety and under the 2006 regulations, then the industries coming up inside would necessarily have to consult the people. The logic proffered was that if the overall industrial complex had been assessed for its impact on people and environment, then the individual units within the complex need not go through the entire elaborate clearance process which includes public consultations. But, by May 26, the NDA government with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm had been sworn in promising ‘Ease of Business’ as one of its mantras. Documents show, it received missives from several industries on the issue. On December 10, 2014, responding to the industries’ plea, the environment ministry put out a ‘clarification’ in the form of an office memorandum. In effect, notified regulations were re-interpreted by a mere executive order in the name of providing a ‘clarification’. This came as a bonanza for industries, including Vedanta. Later, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) highlighted this changed policy as one of the key reforms the NDA government had done for ease of business within a year of coming to power. How Vedanta gained Vedanta’s original copper smelter was built inside the Tuticorin Industrial Complex of State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu. The complex came up before the environmental clearance regulations of 2006 were put in place. Vedanta first sought an approval of the Union environment ministry for expanding its copper plant in 2009. The environment ministry, then under UPA, gave a clearance without requiring public hearings. The clearance was valid for five years. When it lapsed, Vedanta went back to the ministry in 2013 to get an extension. The environment ministry in May 2014 (still under UPA) ordered that cases like Vedanta’s expansion plans need to consult the people. But in December 2014, the NDA government reversed this and in March 2015 the environment ministry extended Vedanta’s environmental clearance till December 2018. This it did even while the question of the need for public hearing by projects in different kinds of industrial parks was being contested in the courts. This allowed the company to carry out construction. With the expansion onway, reports said hundreds of people began protesting.
Vedanta first sought an approval of the Union environment ministry for expanding its copper plant in 2009. The ministry, then under UPA, gave a go ahead without requiring public hearings