new delhi the national green tribunal ngt on wednesday found a notification recently issued by the environment ministry exempting real estate projects from obtaining prior environmental clearance to be absurd it issued notices to the ministry of environment and forests moef and the ministry of urban development moud and observed that all constructions for the time being will be subject to the tribunals orders in this matter ngt was hearing a petition filed by society for protection of environment and biodiversity against the centre the environment ministry in a recent amendment notification published on december 9 2016 exempts building and construction projects of all sizes from the process of environment impact assessment eia and prior environmental clearance before beginning construction for smaller projects less than 20000 sq metres it even has a selfdeclaration clause which will ensure issuance of permission from urban local bodies for larger projects of more than 20000 sq metre size the environmental clearance and building permission will be given by urban local bodies simultaneously in an integrated format prior ec was mandatory for construction projects larger than 20000 sq metres under eia notification 2006the delhi development authority dda was the first urban body to make these changes in its building bye laws even before the draft notification was published in march 2016but the ngt bench raised a number of questions on the legal implications of the notification it asked how the notification could bypass the air and the water acts the consent to operate cto and consent to establish cte are issued to all construction projects by the state pollution control boards but this notification authorizes only the urban local bodies and the experts appointed by them to issue clearances and monitor compliance of various environmental clauses mentioned in the new notification the bench also asked the additional solicitor general asg tushar mehta whether the subordinate legislation to bypass these other regulationsthe new amendment notification said it had received suggestions for ensuring ease of doing responsible business and streamlining the permissions for buildings and construction sector which is important for providing houses and for this purpose the scheme of housing for all by 2022 with an objective of making available affordable housing to weaker sections in urban area has ambitious targetadvocate sanjay upadhyay who is representing the petitioner said the notification dilutes the entire eia procedure in fact it pretty much does away with it reducing environmental clearance to a box ticking procedure the petition says the purpose of including the building and construction projects in the eia notification is a failure of the urban local bodies and development authorities the local bodies have always had specific stipulations on environmental concerns such as rainwater harvesting solar water heating sewage treatment plant as part of the building approval process however such conditions were never adhered to or never made a prerequisite to such sanctionsin fact moef in 2004 had included construction projects in the eia ambit because local bodies and development authorities had been approving new construction