Top environment committee to visit states

A high-level committee (HLC) formed by the government to review various environment laws will visit various states this month to discuss the laws with governments, insitutions and enlightened citizens.
An order on the Environment Ministry website said that the committee will visit Bhubaneswar in Odisha on September 13, Patna in Bihar on September 17 and Bangalore in Karnataka on September 27.
"The committee desires to engage in consultation with state governments officials, institutions and organisations, enlightened and prominent citizens, and civil societies to solicit their views in respect of functioning of Environment, Forests and Wildlife related statutes," the order said.

Interested individuals and representatives of organizations and institutions desirous of meeting the committee to hand over a memoranda or holding direct interaction may kindly send requests, it said.
The HLC had been constituted by the Environment Ministry to review Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
According to the terms of reference, the committee will assess the status of implementation of each of the above Acts vis-a-vis the objectives.

It will examine and take into account various court orders and judicial pronouncements relating to these Acts, recommend specific amendments needed in each of these Acts so as to bring them in line with current requirements to meet objectives, and draft proposed amendments in each of them.

The committee is being chaired by T S R Subramanian and also has Viswanath Anand, Justice (Retd) A K Srivastav and K N Bhat as members.
The Ministry has also invited suggestions from people and organisations through its website.