Public Participation in Environmental Clearances in India 2014] 463 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCES IN INDIA: PROSPECTS FOR DEMOCRATIC DECISION-MAKING Naveen Thayyil* Abstract This paper seeks to identify avenues for improvement in Indian environmental law with respect to a specific aspect of environmental regulation. Grant of environmental clearances is a key step in the statutory framework to balance ecological concerns about the natural environment, concerns of neighboring communities about the quality of their immediate surroundings, including issues of sustainable access of poor and marginal communities to common property resource for their everyday subsistence, and of providing access of natural resources to the industry in the name of seeking socio- economic development through facilitating intensive exploitation of nature for industrialization. Given the limitations of a monopolistic reliance of techno-scientific expert that may be dominated by the concerns of the industry, as well as the epistemic and legitimational need for having public consultation and participation in environmental clearances demonstrated in sociological literature, this paper investigates the existing room for public participation in this decision-making process in India. It identifies the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process as central to the grant of environmental clearances in India. The paper describes and analyses the extremely limited space for public participation in the existing EIA regime, despite formal requirements for public participation and hearing. It argues for a broad based EIA that has public consultation at multiple stages right from screening, scoping and appraisal during EIAs, through post-clearance monitoring as well as compliance of clearance conditions. I Introduction IN LATE August 2014, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) constituted a high level committee to review the working of a number of environmental laws that are administered by the ministry. 1 The general approach in environmental regulation in India is in consonance with the worldwide emphasis on the principles of polluter pays, a combination of the precautionary principle and the preventive * Assistant Professor, Law and Public Policy, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi. 1 MoEF, Office order No. 22-15/2014-IA.III, dated Aug. 29, 2014, available at: http:// www.moef.nic.in/sites/default/files/OM-dtd-25.08.14.pdf (last visited on Oct. 30, 2014). The legislations concerned are the Air (Prevention of Control of Pollution) Act, 1981(Act 14 of 1981); Water (Prevention of Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (Act 6 of 1974); Forest Act, 1927 (Act 16 of 1927); Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (Act 69 of 1980); Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (Act 29 of 1986) and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (Act 53 of 1972). The committee submitted its report to the minister on Nov. 18, 2014; however, the contents of the reports have not been made public by MoEF till date.