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EXCLUSIVEOfficial documents show the Modi Govt did a u-turn on its own Corporate Environment Responsibility guidelines citing a real estate lobby group's petition in court.
What are the implications?
Highlights in thread, full details in
report https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
The Corporate Environment Responsibility guidelines, issued in May 2018, said companies must pay a maximum of between 0.25% and 2% of their capital investment for CER activities. This was applicable for firms in all sectors, including real estate. https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
The real estate lobby group CREDAI was not happy with these guidelines. It lobbied against them twice in the past but both attempts were unsuccessful. The #EIA2020 has a loophole which, effectively, gave the industry what it wanted in this context. See https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/narendra-modi-government-prakash-javadekar-environment-notification_in_5f04c4f9c5b67a80bbff9bbc?ncid=other_huffpostre_pqylmel2bk8&utm_campaign=related_articles
https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/narendra-modi-government-prakash-javadekar-environment-notification_in_5f04c4f9c5b67a80bbff9bbc?ncid=other_huffpostre_pqylmel2bk8&utm_campaign=related_articles
The #EIA2020, which is currently stuck in litigation, came out in March 2020. 3 months before this, the CREDAI filed its petition in the Delhi HC challenging the environment ministry's Corporate Environment Responsibility guidelines. https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
The environment ministry strongly defended its Corporate Environment Responsibility guidelines in an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court in February. See details of what the ministry said in its affidavit here https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
But on 30 Sep 2020, the MoEF quietly did a u-turn and scrapped the 2018 Corporate Environment Responsibility guidelines by issuing a new set of norms that essentially gives the real estate lobby what it wants. The ministry has contradicted itself. https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
The contradiction here is so obvious that, in response to my queries over email, even environment minister @PrakashJavdekar wrote to his officials noting an ''important contradiction" in the situation. Copy of his internal email to MoEFCC officials here https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
What are the consequences of the union environment ministry scrapping its 2018 guidelines? This “dismantles the financial support for community based activities affected by the project," said environment lawyer @shilpachohan https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
The new norms, said retired IFS & Convenor of @yamunajiye , are "akin to sounding death knell to the very concept of Corporate Environment Responsibility and reinforces MoEFCC’s present reputation as defender of everything but environment and ecology." https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
According to Adv @lara_jesani, the new norms are similar to the #EIA2020 draft. “The project proponent now has an excuse to not do any additional spending towards environment conservation or sustainability in the guise of doing CER activities under EMP.” https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
“It seems odd that the MoEFCC would rely on the simple filing of the writ petition challenging the 2018 OM to be a reason to do away with the 2018 OM!” said Adv Shibani Ghosh, a fellow at @CPR_India https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
Adv Ghosh found this odd, she explained, because, "the three orders available in this matter on the Delhi HC website show that no substantive order has been issued in the case yet." Read the full report to understand the full import of this u-turn. https://bit.ly/31jLzxg
