NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal barred on Thursday any fresh constructions under the environment ministry’s December 9 notification exempting real estate projects of all sizes from environment impact assessment and environmental clearance.
The NGT has received two applications questioning legal issues with the December 9 notification, which even has a "self-declaration" clause that will ensure issuance of permission from urban local bodies. For larger projects of more than 20,000sq m, the environmental clearance and building permission will be given by urban local bodies simultaneously in an "integrated format". The notification also states that residential buildings will not require "consent to establish" and "consent to operate (CTO)" from state pollution control boards under provisions of the Air Act 1981 and Water Act 1974.
The NGT bench also allowed the applicants’ lawyers to keep a watch on any such constructions coming up and inform the tribunal of the same. "You can’t do legal blunders and get away with it," a bench headed by NGT chief Justice Swatanter Kumar told lawyers representing the ministry.
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