The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill which seeks to decriminalise minor offences related to water pollution, enable the Centre to prescribe service conditions of chairpersons of State Pollution Control Boards, and exempt certain categories of industrial plants from statutory restrictions. The Bill, which seeks to amend the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, was approved by the Rajya Sabha by voice vote.
Piloting the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Bill 2024 in the Upper House of Parliament, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said that development and environment protection must go together.
There should be harmony in ease of living and ease of doing business, he added while replying to a debate on the Bill. He said its provisions will lead to greater transparency in dealing with various issues related to water pollution.
According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, the amendment proposes to rationalise criminal provisions and ensure that citizens, businesses and companies operate without fear of imprisonment for minor, technical or procedural defaults.
Also, the nature of penal consequence of an offence must be commensurate with the seriousness of offence, it added. According to the Bill, the central government will be empowered to exempt certain categories of industrial plants from the application of section 25 relating to restriction on new outlets and new discharges.
“This will reduce the duplication of surveillance and unnecessary burden on regulatory agencies,” Yadav said. According to the proposed law, the central government will prescribe the manner of nomination of chairpersons of State Pollution Control Boards. It also empowers the central government to issue guidelines on the matters relating to the grant, refusal or cancellation of consent by any state board for establishment of any industry, operation or process, or treatment and disposal system or bringing into use of new or altered outlets.
“Amendments in the Water Act are also necessary to make in line with the Air Act, as both laws contain similar provisions,” he said.
As water is a state subject under the Constitution, hence it was not considered in the Jan Vishwas Bill 2022, through which the Air Act was amended.