Public Hearing vs Public Consultation under the EIA Notification, 2006

The terms 'public hearing' and 'public consultation' are often used interchangeably, but under the EIA Notification, 2006 they are not the same. Public consultation is the third stage of the EIA process and the wider concept: it is the process of ascertaining the concerns of all persons with a plausible stake in the project's environmental impacts. The public hearing is one of its two components: an oral hearing at or near the project site for local affected persons. The other component is the collection of written responses from other concerned persons.

1. Public Consultation

The Notification defines public consultation as the process by which the concerns of local affected persons and others who have a plausible stake in the environmental impacts of the project or activity are ascertained, with a view to taking into account all the material concerns in the project or activity design as appropriate. It applies to all Category A and Category B1 projects, subject to exemptions (modernisation of irrigation projects, projects within industrial estates holding EC, expansion of roads without further land acquisition, building and area development projects under item 8, all B2 projects, and projects concerning national defence and security). It has two components:

1. a public hearing at the site or in its close proximity, district-wise, for ascertaining the concerns of local affected persons; and
2. obtaining responses in writing from other concerned persons having a plausible stake, by placing the summary EIA report on the websites of the regulatory authority and the State Board and inviting comments.

After consultation, the proponent must address all the material concerns and finalise the EIA report and EMP, or submit a supplementary report, which the appraisal committee must consider.

2. Public Hearing

The public hearing is conducted by the State Pollution Control Board (or Union territory Pollution Control Committee) under Appendix IV of the Notification:

• the draft EIA report and summary in English and the local language are made available at specified offices and on websites;
• a notice is published in a major national daily and a regional vernacular daily, giving at least thirty days for responses, with the date, time and venue;
• the hearing is presided over by the District Magistrate or an officer not below the rank of Additional District Magistrate, assisted by a Board representative;
• the proceedings are video-recorded, and the minutes recording all views and the proponent's responses are read out in the local language, signed, displayed and forwarded to the regulatory authority; and
• the hearing must be completed within forty-five days of the proponent's request; if the Board does not complete it in time, the regulatory authority may engage another agency.

3. Key Differences

4. Case Law

In Utkarsh Mandal v. Union of India (Delhi High Court, 26 November 2009), the Court held that the public hearing is not an empty formality; the appraisal committee must apply its mind to the objections raised and record reasons, and set aside a clearance where it had not done so. In Samarth Trust v. Union of India (Delhi High Court, 2010), it emphasised proper notice and access to documents. The NGT has quashed clearances where hearings were held far from the site, documents were not in the local language, the minutes were inaccurate, or objections were ignored. In Hanuman Laxman Aroskar (2019), the Supreme Court stressed that the EIA process, including consultation, exists to ensure informed decision-making. The draft EIA Notification, 2020, which proposed to cut the notice period to twenty days and widen exemptions, was not finalised after widespread objection.

5. Related Topics and Provisions