Overview
- The Environment Ministry has notified a Standing Authority on Environment Impact Assessment and a Standing Committee on Environment Impact Appraisal for every state and Union Territory to act when state appraisal bodies are non-functional.
- The EIA rules were amended to extend SEIAA and SEAC tenures from three to four years and to require states to begin reconstitution at least six months before expiry.
- The standing bodies will handle Category B projects for up to one year if state SEIAA or SEAC lapse because of expired tenure, vacancies of more than a month, or court stays.
- Reported membership rules make these panels led by senior officials such as chief secretaries and chief conservators of forests and do not require the same long-form domain qualifications that existing appraisal bodies have.
- Experts warn the change could weaken technical scrutiny and shift decisions toward administrators, which may speed approvals but raise risks for local ecosystems and trigger further debate and review of the new rules.