Nitin Sethi - Real estate industry exempted from green clearances, in the name of the poor
Following the NDA
government’s “Ease of Business” mantra, the environment ministry has proposed
that the entire construction sector could be exempted from mandatory
environmental clearances if states impose pre-specified and standard green
conditions under their building bye-laws.
But, even before the
environment ministry carries out mandatory public consultation and notifies
these proposed changes, the urban development ministry has already amended its
model Building bye-laws public announcing the relaxation for the construction industry.
It has asked the states to adopt the model bye-laws to avoid the mandatory environmental clearances. Taking cue, the Delhi Development Authority has adopted these amended building bye-laws without awaiting a final notification of the changes by the environment ministry.
It has asked the states to adopt the model bye-laws to avoid the mandatory environmental clearances. Taking cue, the Delhi Development Authority has adopted these amended building bye-laws without awaiting a final notification of the changes by the environment ministry.
Business Standard
reviewed documents that show the two ministries consulted repeatedly to decide
that the changes would be made to ease the business for the entire real estate
and construction industry though the environment ministry’s draft said the
purpose of the changes was to provide houses to the weaker section under the
‘Housing For All’ scheme.
It was decided between
the two that if the states impose a standard list of environmental conditions
under the building bye-laws then the environment ministry will exempt the
buildings in the state from following the more detailed environmental
conditions and clearance norms under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
Subsequent to the
internal agreement, the Union urban development ministry put out the amended
building bye-laws on March 18, 2016 for states to adopt. Delhi Development
Authority, which is controlled by the urban development ministry took the lead
and on March 22, 2016 proposed the amendments to its bye-laws for the city.
The law requires that
environment ministry first consult public before making changes to the
environmental clearance processes. The ministry put out the draft notification
for mandatory public consultation on April 29, 2016 – more than a month after
the urban development ministry had already incorporated the ease of regulations
for construction sector that the environment ministry was yet to propose.
The decision of the
NDA government also comes after a spate of judgements by NGT and the Supreme Court
against illegal construction in violation of environmental norms. In some cases
fine in the range of Rs 50-100 crores have been imposed by the court and
tribunals for such violations.
The urban development
ministry did not respond to queries from Business Standard.
The environment
ministry in a detailed response to queries said the changes to the regulations,
“Will not only go a long way in easing the procedure for doing business without
compromising environment conditions, it would also instil a spirit of
competition among the states.”
Business Standard
asked if the urban development ministry’s amendments to model building bye-laws
presented a fait accompli for environment ministry and the subsequent public
consultations had been rendered useless. The ministry said, Ministry of Urban
Development is co-ordinating on streamlining the building permission. It was a
consensus among the participating departments. The (public) comments have come
and department will carefully consider all of them before reaching at any
conclusion. Comments of public, stakeholders and ministries are useful in
finalizing the notification, so it cannot be called redundant.”
Documents show that
the urban development minister, Venkaiah Naidu wrote to his then counterpart in
February 2016, noting, “It is hoped that this will immensely help the real
estate business as landmark step in Ease of Doing Business…This will also
facilitate in improving the country’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business, which
is dream of our Honourable Prime Minister to make efforts for bringing the
country in top 50 rank in the World.”
The environment
ministry’s notification in April 2016 noted, “The Central government is working
for ensuring Ease of Doing Responsible Business.” The notification also
said that the rules were being amended to streamline permissions which is
important “for providing house and for this purpose the scheme of Housing for
all by 2022 with an objective of making available of affordable housing to
weaker section in urban area has ambitious target.”
But the exemption
would be available not only for weaker section housing but for all kind of real
estate projects including malls, entertainment centres and commercial
buildings. When queried why all real estate and construction was being exempted
if the purpose was only to ease the generation of housing for poor, the
environment ministry said, “This point has been raised in several comments
received. Ministry will keep this in view while finalizing the notification.”
The urban development
ministry shared the draft of the model bye-laws with the environment ministry.
The environment ministry had two key suggestions to make. It told the urban
development ministry instead of writing “dispense with environment clearances”
in one part of the bye-laws, the urban development ministry should say,
“Integrate the environment clearance with building permissions”. It also said
that the heading of the chapter in the building byelaws should use the phrase
“integration of environmental clearance conditions with building permissions”
in place of “delegation of environmental clearance to local authorities.” The
changes were incorporated. The sub-chapter delegating powers to local
authorities was consequently called, “Requirement for climate resilient construction”.
The environment
ministry justified the changes saying existing clearances, given by state level
authorities, cover construction projects over 20,000 square metres and the
proposed building bye-law route would cover buildings above 5,000 square
metres. Therefore, the ministry said a larger section of the construction
sector would eventually get covered.
The demand for
relaxation for the real estate industry has been repeatedly made since 2009.
But the ministry had till mid-2015 held the view that with large amount of the
building stock yet to come up in India it is essential to keep a tab on the
overall impact of the sector on the environment.
Yet, the existing
norms for real estate have always been kept easier than that for polluting
industry. Over the past four years-time bound clearance process was also put in
place and the states told to enhance the number of expert bodies that clear the
projects, if necessary.
In India, unlike in
many developed parts of the world, city master plans under the state
authorities are not prepared based on environmental carrying capacity studies
and common lands such as catchment of water bodies have often been converted to
real estate causing problems such as flooding in Chennai and Mumbai. The
ministry responded to comments on this fact to say, “The urban areas of
Municipal Corporations or Development Authorities have Master Plans, concept of
Zoning and land use. This broadly takes care of major environmental features.
The standard, objectively monitorable environmental guidelines in larger
section of buildings will have more positive impact on environment.”
Legal experts, such as
Ritwick Dutta, have said exempting the sector from provisions of the central
Environment Protection Act would also imply that the industry cannot be taken
to National Green Tribunal in case of any environmental damage. The ministry in
response has said that would not be the case.
