Environmental governance bodies: EPA, NGT, CPCB and the EIA process

The umbrella statute: Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

India's environmental governance rests on the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA), enacted under Article 253 of the Constitution to implement the decisions of the Stockholm Conference (1972) and as a direct legislative response to the Bhopal gas disaster (2–3 December 1984). The EPA is an umbrella legislation: Section 3 empowers the Central Government to take "all such measures as it deems necessary" to protect and improve environmental quality, Section 5 confers power to issue directions (including closure of industries and stoppage of electricity/water), and Section 6 allows rules on standards and procedures. The landmark Environment Impact Assessment Notification is issued under Section 3(2)(v) read with Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.

The pollution control boards: CPCB and SPCBs

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is a statutory body constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and entrusted with additional functions by the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. It advises the Central Government, lays down ambient air and water quality standards (the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, last revised 2009), coordinates the activities of State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), and runs national monitoring programmes. The consent mechanism—Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO)—is administered by SPCBs under Section 25 of the Water Act and Section 21 of the Air Act, making the boards the day-to-day regulators of industrial pollution. Note the constitutional distinction: the CPCB and SPCBs are statutory, whereas the older National Committee on Environmental Planning was merely advisory.

The green court: National Green Tribunal

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) was created by the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, giving effect to Article 21 (right to a healthy environment, read in Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar, 1991) and India's commitments under the Rio Declaration, 1992 (Principles 10 and 13). The NGT is a specialised body of judicial and expert members exercising jurisdiction over "substantial questions relating to environment" arising from the seven scheduled enactments (Water Act, Air Act, EPA, Forest Conservation Act 1980, etc.). Under Section 20 it applies the principles of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle. It can award relief, compensation and restitution of the environment, and appeals lie directly to the Supreme Court under Section 22. Crucially, the NGT does not have jurisdiction over the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 or the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Forest Rights) Act, 2006—a frequently tested exclusion. Landmark interventions include the Art of Living Yamuna floodplain case (2017) and the levy on diesel vehicles in the NCR pollution matter (2015).

The EIA Notification, 2006: scope and architecture

The EIA Notification of 14 September 2006, issued under the EPA, governs prior environmental clearance (EC) for projects. It replaced the 1994 notification and decentralised appraisal by creating two categories:

• Category A projects (e.g., large mining, nuclear power, petroleum refineries) are appraised at the Central level by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), advised by an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC).
• Category B projects are appraised at the State level by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC). Category B is further split into B1 (EIA required) and B2 (EIA exempted), determined by screening.

The four stages of clearance

The 2006 notification prescribes a four-stage process: (1) Screening (only for Category B, to decide B1/B2); (2) Scoping, in which the EAC/SEAC frames the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the EIA study; (3) Public Consultation, comprising a public hearing at the project site and written responses from stakeholders (waived for certain categories such as expansion of some projects, modernisation of irrigation, and projects in notified industrial estates); and (4) Appraisal, leading to grant or rejection of the EC. The precautionary principle and polluter pays principle, affirmed in Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India (1996), inform appraisal.

Why this matters for the exam

This topic is directly examined in Prelims GS (institution-matching questions: which body is statutory vs. constitutional, which Act created the NGT, jurisdiction exclusions) and is a recurring Mains GS-3 theme under "conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment." PYQ patterns include: Prelims 2019 asked which institutions are statutory; Prelims 2022 tested the NGT's powers; and Mains questions repeatedly probe the adequacy of the EIA regime. The high-yield facts a candidate must retain: the EPA's enabling sections (3, 5, 6), the constitutional Article 253 basis, the A/B and B1/B2 categorisation, the four EIA stages, the NGT's Section 20 principles and Section 22 appeal route, and the exclusion of the Wildlife and Forest Rights Acts from NGT jurisdiction. For Mains, marshal the critique of the Draft EIA Notification 2020—post-facto clearance, shrinking public-consultation windows, expanded B2 exemptions—and counter it with the public-trust doctrine (M.C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath, 1997) and Article 48A/51A(g) directives.