Govt allows transfer of green nod from old to new lessees
The Union environment ministry has made provisions for mining permits to be transferred to new mining lessees from previous lease holders, without having to apply for a fresh forest clearance, people familiar with the matter said.
The latest exemption was meant to facilitate smooth handover of mines that are presently being auctioned in various states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the people cited above added.
In a letter to all states and UTS on July 7, the ministry said that the
NEW DELHI:
transfer of approval under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, can be made provided mining companies that are new lease holders meet certain conditions.
The conditions for transfer of forest clearance include complete compliance of terms and conditions stipulated in the forest clearance granted previously, and rules and guidelines framed thereafter. Non-compliance of conditions, if any, stipulated in the forest clearance granted to the erstwhile agency shall be transferred as liabilities to the new lessee.
“It is clarified that in case of violation of any of the conditions which was done during the period of previous allocattee and which constitutes an offence under the
Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the penal clauses will be invoked against the previous allocatee only and not against the new allocatee,” the letter read.
The transfer of forest clearance to the new company can be accorded by state governments subject to fulfilment of conditions, the letter said, clarifying that mining companies do not require approaching the Centre in this regard.
Environmental experts, however, believe that lack of environmental oversight could lead to complete degradation of certain mining-affected regions. “We have to understand that some of these mines that have been auctioned have been mined for lease periods of 20 to 30 years. Now after the transfer of forest clearance without any assessment, they will be mined for another 20 to 30 years. This can be extremely detrimental to local ecology because the ground situation has changed massively during all these years,” Sudiep Shrivastava, Chhattisgarhbased environmental lawyer, said.