Green laws' review panel gets a month's extension

The high-level committee reviewing all green laws has, on request, been given a month-long extension by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The committee, headed by former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian, initially had a two-month tenure and was to submit its report by October 31.

The panel was set up by the government in August to review five environment laws -Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and two lesser known but important laws meant to prevent and control air and water pollution - to begin with.

Mid-course, the mandate of the committee was expanded to additionally review the Colonial-era legislation, the Indian Forest Act, 1927. The committee held brief consultations across the country.

At one of these meetings, it landed in a controversy with the committee members and civil society members getting into a tiff. That meeting had ended abruptly.

The panel was set up to look at comprehensive overhaul of the laws even as the ministry, guided by the Prime Minister's Office, undertook a series of amendments and dilutions to the green regulations - making changes that could be done through executive fiat instead of legislative amendments.