The government on Thursday decided to institute a committee of four ministers to prepare a framework for creating an independent environmental regulatory authority to monitor the compliance of green laws in the country, reports Express News Service in
New Delhi. Environment minister Prakash Javadekar, transport minister Nitin Gadkari, power minister Piyush Goyal, and chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar have been told to look at long-standing proposals for a regulator and suggest the most viable structure. The regulator will take most of the operational work away from the environment ministry which will then be left with the job of framing policy guidelines. Specifically, the regulator would be tasked with appraising environmental impact assessments for setting up new industries, monitoring the compliance of conditions laid down during the grant of clearance of projects, and prescribing penalties for errant companies.