The Assam Pollution Control Board (“APCB”) has by a notification dated 4th May, 2019, revised the validity period for Consent to Operate (“CTO”) for Red, Orange and Green categories of industries. This revised categorization is an adoption to the CPCB’s recommendations on validity of CTO.
Background:
APCB on 20th May, 2016 (“2016 Notification”), issued a notification on validity of CTO for the different categories of industries. The details of the same are provided below:
| Particulars | Maximum Validity |
| All the 17 categories of highly polluting Red Category Industries were granted ‘Consent to Operate’ for the period of | 1 year |
| All the large Red category except 17 categories of highly polluting industries were granted ‘Consent to Operate’ for the period of | 3 years |
| All the Medium & Small-Scale Red category and all Orange categories of Industries except for which CETP has been installed were granted consent to operate for the period of | 5 Years |
| All the green category Industries were granted consent to operate for the period of | 10 years |
Present scenario:
APCB has now superseded the 2016 Notification and has notified the following revision on validity period of CTO:
| Category of Industries | Validity Period of Consent to Operate (in Years) |
| Red | 5 |
| Orange | 10 |
| Green | 15 |
It has also been clarified in the present notification that, the validity period of CTO shall be worked out on the basis of fees deposited in multiple of one year. However, industrial units can apply for any number of years with maximum limit as shown in the above revised table after payment of applicable fees.
Source: Assam Pollution Control Board
