Ordinance for setting up commission to manage NCR air quality

  •  The name of ordinance is: The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020.
  • Through the Ordinance, the Centre has also dissolved the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) for the NCR (EPCA was created in 1998).
BACKGROUND 
  • The Ordinance came within days of the hearing in ‘Aditya Dubey vs Union of India’ in the court of the Chief Justice of India, where Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had indicated the setting up of such a Commission.
OBJECTIVES
  • The Ordinance seeks to create an overarching body to consolidate all monitoring bodies, and to bring them on one platform so air quality management can be carried out in a more comprehensive, efficient, and time-bound manner.
  • The Centre also seeks to relieve the Supreme Court from having to constantly monitor pollution levels through various pollution-related cases as per the judgment in ‘M C Mehta vs Union of India’, 1988.
COMMISSION DETAILS
  • The Commission will be a permanent body and will have over 20 members.
  • It will be chaired by a retired official of the level of Secretary to the Government of India or Chief Secretary of a state. 
  • The chairperson will hold the post for three years or until s/he attains the age of 70 years.
  • It will include a representative of the Secretary of the MoEF, five Secretary level officers who will be ex officio members, and two joint secretary level officers who will be full-time members.
  • The Commission will also have representation from the CPCB, ISRO, air pollution experts, and three representatives of non-government organisations (NGOs). 
  • As associate members, the Commission will have representatives from various other Ministries
POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.
  • In matters of air pollution and air quality management, the Commission will supersede all existing bodies such as the CPCB, and even the state governments of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. 
  • It will have the powers to issue directions to the states.
  • The Commission will also coordinate efforts of state governments to curb air pollution, and will lay down the parameters of air quality for the region.
  • It will have powers to restrict the setting up of industries in vulnerable areas, and will be able to conduct site inspections of industrial units.
  • If its directions are contravened, through say, the setting up of an industrial unit in a restricted area, the Commission will have the power to impose a fine of up to Rs 1 crore and imprisonment of up to 5 years.
HOW IS THE COMMISSION DIFFERENT FROM EPCA

  • The EPCA looked at the NCR while the purview of the new Commission extends to “adjoining areas as well”.
  • EPCA was not a statutory body but drew legitimacy from the Supreme Court. 
  • EPCA had no state representatives, just two permanent members.
  • The Commission, on the other hand, will have representation from the state. 
  • It is a permanent and statutory body.


SOURCE: IE

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