Amendments in Environment Protection Act (EPA)

Why in news?

• Recently, the Environment Ministry has proposed to levy more fines and less imprisonment for environmental violations.

Key Amendments in Environment Protection Act (EPA):

• Present Clause in the Act:
  • The Act currently says that violators will be punishable with imprisonment up to five years or with a fine up to 1 lakh, or with both.
  • Were violations to continue, an additional fine of up to 5,000 for every day during which such failure or contravention continues after the conviction would be levied.
  • There’s also a provision for jail terms to extend to seven years.
• Proposed Change:
  • The clause providing for imprisonment will be replaced with one that only requires them to pay a fine.
  • The proposed fines, in lieu of imprisonment, are 5-500 times greater than those currently levied. In case of contraventions of the Act, the penalties could extend to anywhere from 5 lakh to 5 crore.
  • However, in case of serious violations which lead to grievous injury or loss of life, they shall be covered under the provision of Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Section 24 of EP Act.
  • The removal of prison terms also applies to the Air Act, that is the cornerstone legislation for dealing with air pollution, and the Water Act, which deals with violations to water bodies.
  • Appointing an “adjudication officer” who would decide on a penalty in cases of environmental violations such as reports not being submitted or information not provided when demanded.
  • Funds collected as penalties would be accrued in an “Environmental Protection Fund”.
• Rationale behind the proposal:
  • The Environment Ministry had received suggestions to decriminalise existing provisions of the EPA to weed out “fear of imprisonment for simple violations”.
  • The current EPA provisions will govern the penalties in case of the single-use plastic ban that came into recently.
• Pending Cases:
  • An analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that Indian courts took between 9-33 years to clear a backlog of cases for environmental violations.
  • Beginning 2018, close to 45,000 cases was pending trial and another 35,000 cases were added in that year.
  • More than 90% cases were pending trial in five of the seven environment laws.

PRACTICE QUESTION

With reference to ‘Environment Protection Act (EPA)’, consider the following statements:

1. Under the Act the state government is entrusted with the power to lay down standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from various sources.

2. Funds collected as penalties under the Act would be accrued to Environmental Protection Fund

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer