Government Orders and Notifications

MoEF - Ministry of Environment and Forest

EIA Notification 14 Sep 2006 in exercise of the powers by subsection (1) and clause (v) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, MoEF mandates all the new activities, projects, whether the fresh, expansion in the existing capacity, modernisation, or amendment in the existing capacity need to obtain the prior Environmental Clearance as per the schedule to the notification.

There are two types of projects based upon the category, one falls under Category A which is directly submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF)/Central/Expert Appraisal Committee(EAC) of the Union Government, and gets Environmental clearance (EC) after due process. The Second one falls under Category B which is dealt with at the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). The Project Proponents need to get/obtain the Environmental clearance (EC) before starting any construction activities or any work at the site.

Category A and B1 projects have the screening, scoping, Public Consultation, and final appraisal, and Category B2 projects do not require the public consultation hence directly apprised on the basis of screening and scoping. Detailed link of the notification (Link)

Doon Valley Notification 1 Feb 1989: The Union Government/Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) under rule 5 of the Environment Protection Rules, 1986 has barred setting up the polluting industries, mining activities/operations, and other developmental activities in the Doon Valley/Dehradun. By this notification, MoEF categorised the industries into three categories. Industries that are non polluting in nature are required to be set in the approved industrial areas (Green category). Industries that can be permitted in the doon valley are required to be assessed by the state pollution control board (SPCB) and then referred to MOEF/Union Gov. before awarding the No Objection Certificate (NOC), (Orange category). Industries that can not be permitted to set up in the doon valley. (Red category). Detailed link of notification of Doon Valley 1 Feb 1989 (Link)

Doon Valley Amendment 6 Jan 2020: The Doon valley notification was amended vide MoEF notification dated 6th January 2020 under section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and rule 5 of the Environment Protection Rules, 1986 in which Existing industrial categorisation (Reg, Orange, Green) shall be replaced with the new categorisation issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) dated 7 March 2016 (Red, Orange, Green, and White). Even after the new categorisation of industries, Red category industries are not allowed to be set in the doon valley and all the orange category industries which are now in the red category industries are permitted to be continued but no expansion in the capacity will be allowed. Detailed link of the notification 6 Jan 2020 (Link)

CPCB - Central Pollution Control Board

Revised List of Categorisation of Industries:

CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) has revamped and re-classified the complete industrial sectors into Red, Orange, Green and White categories on March 7, 2016.
The industries that are having the Pollution index over and above 60 are classified as Red category industries.
If the pollution index is between 41 to 59 is classified as Orange category industries. If the score is 21 to 40 then the industrial sector is classified as Green category.
And if the Pollution index score is less than 20, then they are classified as White category industries. List of the categories of Industries.

CGWA - Central Ground Water Authority

Public Notice no. 13/2021 - Dated 27th September 2021 For All Existing Groundwater Users

All Industries who have been issued NOC before 24.09.2020 are required to pay ground water abstraction/restoration charges in arrears from 24.09.2020 till the date of validity of CGWA NOC.
Therefore, Industries who have constructed artificial recharge structures in compliance to the conditions specified in the NOC are qualified up-to 50% rebate on the ground water abstraction/restoration charges. Click here to read the Public Notice.

Public Notice no. 15/2021 - Dated 27th September 2021 For All new Infrastructure Projects

All new infrastructure units’ open paved/parking areas are required to be covered with interlocking/perforated tiles or other suitable measures to make sure that rainwater runoff harvesting is suitably done.
All new Infrastructure projects/units/PP are required to have a dual water supply system/dual plumbing plan for utilising treated water from STP for flushing. Public notice (Link)

Public notice no. 12/2021 – Dated 06 Sep 2021

All the users including Residential apartments/ units or Group Housing Societies, or Government water supply agencies in urban areas and Industrial, Infrastructure and Mining Projects and Swimming Pools if existing or new are withdrawing or proposing to withdrawing groundwater are required to obtain CGWA NOC as per the guidelines and to submit their applications for CGWA NOC through online portal of CGWA.
All industries withdrawing groundwater but anyhow fail to apply for CGWA NOC before 31.03.2022 are liable to face legal action and pay Environmental Compensation for illegal withdrawal of groundwater. Public Notice. (Link)

Notification dated 24 September 2020 Revised guidelines of CGWA

As per the directions of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal and the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of Section 3 read with Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI notified the guidelines to standardise and control the rampant and unchecked groundwater abstraction in the country.
The Central Ground Water Authority has been regulating and controlling groundwater management and development in various ways and they have started issuing No Objection Certificate to projects, whether residential commercial, industrial, or mining within the context of outlined guidelines, and their amendments came from time to time. CGWA functions in twenty- two states and two union territories where groundwater development is not administered by the State Government.
The revised guidelines 24 September 2020 aim at the sustainable management of groundwater resources and derive the best practices and approaches to conserve the depleting depth to the water level in the different parts of the country. CGWA revised guidelines 24 Sep 2020 is available (Link)