Conflict of interest: Gupta was environment secy when Posco was cleared

[Mrudul Godbole]

Conflict of interest: Gupta was environment secy when Posco was cleared
Nitin Sethi, TNN, Oct 19, 2010, 04.34am IST

NEW DELHI: Three of four members on the Meena Gupta committee have written to environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh that differences between them and the chairperson may have arisen as Gupta was a retired IAS officer from Orissa cadre who had also been environment secretary at the Centre.

In a letter jointly despatched by retired forest officer Devendra Pandey, researcher Urmila Pingle and civil rights lawyer V Suresh, the three have virtually suggested a conflict of interest in Gupta's role. They put their reservations on Gupta's dissenting views on record a day before submitting their report on Posco separately.

Gupta had served as secretary, environment and forests, when environmental clearance was given to Posco under the Environment Protection Act. Gupta in her report noted the committee was not mandated to review the legality of clearances but only whether government and the South Korean company had followed conditions laid down in the permissions.

The three members differed, saying they were indeed authorised to investigate if the project had been pursued in compliance of green laws, including the manner in which green clearances were granted.

The three noted in the letter to the minister that they were unanimous in their view and the differences between them and the chair were fundamental in nature and could not be resolved despite their best efforts.

In the majority report, they have called the entire process of granting environmental clearances as farcical and illegal and recommended that it be revoked, which would imply scrapping the project as it stands today. Gupta, on the other hand, has recommended the project be allowed to continue and additional conditions be imposed in light of lacunae found by her.

Gupta's report has tried to, just as Ramesh did on Monday, play down differences with the other three. She has stated, "On some of the issues, there was agreement on what the conclusion should be, but not on the reasons leading to the conclusion."

While releasing the two reports, Ramesh too said the difference was merely of interpretation of the facts and that the two reports were otherwise aligned. The three members later met the minister to argue that differences did not seem amenable to resolution.

The release of the report by the minister was also marred by an unpleasant moment with one of the three members openly opposing the `gag order' by the minister on the committee after submission of the report.

Sources said the committee members had earlier raised concerns about the possible conflict of interest in having Gupta as chair when she had been the senior most bureaucrat in the environment ministry at the time Posco was granted a clearance.

Article at - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Conflict-of-interest-Gupta-was-environment-secy-when-Posco-was-cleared/articleshow/6770917.cms#ixzz12l8A90d9

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sharing this report that appeared in Times of India. The Forest Advisory committee appears to have taken a dim view of the environmental clearances for the Posco project.
Sabyasachi

Posco's chances dim as another panel says no
Nitin Sethi, TNN, Nov 3, 2010, 01.41am IST

NEW DELHI: The deck's being stacked against Posco. In the biggest blow yet to the South Korean giant's Rs 54,000-crore project in Orissa, a key committee of the environment ministry has recommended the withdrawal of forest clearance to the multinational's plan to build an integrated steel plant. If accepted by environment minister Jairam Ramesh, the recommendation of the forest advisory committee (FAC) could sound the death-knell for the country's biggest FDI project. What adds significance to the FAC's red signal is the fact that it's a statutory body and Ramesh has rarely overturned its recommendations.

The report comes on the back of two adverse reports, with Ramesh citing violations of envirionmental laws by the Korean promoters of the mega industrial project and the Orissa government.

If the content of the report of the FAC, about to be submitted to the ministry, marks a blow, the timing was hardly propitious either. It came on a day when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi identified environment protection as one of the party's top concerns.

The environment ministry, remarkably proactive under Ramesh, had earlier stayed the clearance for Posco after the N C Saxena panel had pointed to violations of the Forest Rights Act by the Orissa government while carrying out acquisition of land for the project. The environment ministry awaited the report of the Meena Gupta committee set up specifically to review Posco for compliance with all green laws.

Three out of the four members of the Gupta committee pointed to grave violations of FRA and other green laws as well as collusion and fabrication by the state government in an attempt to secure the forest clearance.

The report was referred by the ministry to the FAC to take a view on the forest-related violations of the project. The brief for the FAC was clear. If it agreed with the Saxena and Gupta panel reports that the Orissa government had not settled rights of forest dwellers under the FRA and evidence for the same was not presented to environment ministry, it would have to withdraw the forest clearance as per the ministry's August 2009 directive.

The FAC, which has three non-official members on board and is loaded with forest officials, initially dithered from following the parent ministry's directive. It decided to throw the ball in the tribal affairs ministry's court. But an internal review within the FAC of its stand made it clear, sources said, that there was ample evidence of violations of FRA and the ministry's directive made it an imperative that the forest clearance be withdrawn.

Though the FAC is only an advisory body, Ramesh could now find it hard to go against the recommendations of the statutory FAC and two other special committees--one under NAC member N C Saxena and another under ex-environment secretary Meena Gupta. It would also be difficult for Congress to sidestep violations of an Act that it had just recently used in the Vedanta case to prop-up Rahul Gandhi's image as a pro-tribal leader.

The majority report of the Meena Gupta committee had also pointed to serious violations of other green laws--the CRZ rules and the environmental clearance regulations. These are being assessed by different divisions of the ministry separately and sources in the environment ministry said the nature of violations seemed to be as serious in these cases as well.

Posco may not be seeing the end of the road to the current site location yet but the FAC's recommendation will definitely make it difficult for the government to now allow the project in its current shape.

The Orissa government, if it wants to help Posco, could still undertake the settlement of rights under the FRA before applying for a fresh forest clearance with environment ministry but it has in a written submission to the Centre challenging the FRA itself and, playing the law-and-order card, has said that undertaking FRA processes again could lead to violence in the state.

The Orissa government had not been able to settle the forest rights of the people on the location under the Forest Rights Act. It has not been able to secure the mandatory approval of the gram sabhas (village councils) permitting diversion of the forest land. Instead, the two environment ministry panels had stated that the state government had presented fabricated documents to claim it had done so.

Sources said while difference of opinion had existed between the FAC members at the initial stage, it was accepted that Posco had failed in compliance of its conditions laid out while giving the conditional forest clearance earlier. The conditions included one requiring Orissa to furnish proof that FRA had been followed.

Orissa was unable to provide the documentary proof and instead tried to skirt around the requirements of FRA by stating that it had followed another process to do the same.

Source article can be found here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Poscos-chances-dim-as-another-panel-says-no/articleshow/6862119.cms

[Mrudul Godbole]

Orissa won't give up, challenges Centre on Posco
Nitin Sethi, TNN, Dec 26, 2010, 03.00am IST

NEW DELHI: The Union environment and forests ministry may have withdrawn the green clearance to Vedanta's Aluminium mining project in Orissa but the state government is not giving up easy. It has sent a detailed reply to the Centre recommending that the project be allowed to continue.

In an attempt to get the union government entangled in legalities, it has also sought to play the tribal affairs ministry against the environment ministry on the issue of compliance with the Forest Rights Act.

The environment ministry had refused the forest clearance for the alumina mining at Niyamgiri hills by Vedanta, noting that the process of settling rights of primitive tribal group under the FRA had not been completed and the state government had given false evidence to claim otherwise.

The state government has instead sought to challenge the rules of the environment ministry that require its Forest Advisory Committee to review the implementation of FRA at the project site before it recommends a clearance under the Forest Conservation Act.

The environment ministry rules, in compliance of FRA, require that the advisory committee ensure, besides other things, that the affected village councils have given explicit permission for the diversion of their community forestlands.

The Orissa state government, centre's N C Saxena panel, had noted, was unable to produce these certificates. The panel had also pointed to other infirmities in the procedure followed by the state government in completing the process of settlement under the FRA. The act requires that no land be diverted before the right ascertaining process has been completed.

But the state government has now written to the tribal affairs ministry questioning the validity of the environment ministry rules. The tribal affairs ministry is yet to reply to the state government.

These rules of the environment ministry have become the biggest bone of contention for industry with the other big-ticket project Poso also unable to pass the test -securing village council nod.

Link - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/developmental-issues/Orissa-wont-give-up-challenges-Centre-on-Posco/articleshow/7165085.cms#ixzz19ECb7dHJ