An Environmental Impact Assessment In India: A Modern Perspective On Legislation And Judicial Processes

Abstract

An environmental impact assessment, which is or EIA, is a study conducted to forecast the effects of the project being considered on the surrounding area. EIA is a tool for making decisions since it provides a range of possibilities from the perspective of environmental contamination, from which one that is kinder to the environment can be chosen. The environmental rule of law’s theoretical structure takes into account the unique difficulties that the field's inherently a polycentric and multidisciplinary nature poses for values of the rule of law that are widely accepted, like consistency in behaviour, clarity, and certainty. In this notion, the importance of the three branches of government—legislature, executive branch, and judicial branch—in bolstering or undermining the rule of law is highlighted. I create three broad indicators to evaluate the legal quality of each of these government entities' instruments in order to calculate their institutions contributions to the rules of law. In order to ascertain the global ramifications, this study investigates the domestic law-reform initiatives of Indian social groups, with a special emphasis on indigenous organisations reacting to extractive industries. The Act of 1986, the notifications that were issued of 2006 in connection with the Draft Notifications of 2020, and the Act of 2005 all contain provisions regarding the right to knowledge about the environment, which the writers discuss. However, a number of interested groups and environmental experts opposed the new regulation, claiming that it undermines the efficacious EIA process. This article provides suggestions for the future while critically analysing the contentious sections of the updated draft.