As part of e-governance initiative and in compliance with the Ease of Doing Business (“EODB”) of Business Action Reforms Plan, 2018, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (“Board”) has, in a Public Notice dated 27th November, 2018 announced that it has, in a bid to simplify its procedures, made available online processes for obtaining Consent to Establish (“CTE”) and Consent to Operate (“CTO”) under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and authorization under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016.
Key Highlights of the online procedures
i)Introduction of e-sign (digital signature) from December, 2018 to eliminate the need for applicants to submit physical applications.
ii)A new provision for enabling applicants to upload self-attested relevant documents (in PDF format) in XGN software, including photo ID proof such as Voters ID/PAN card/Passport/Driving Licence (any one document in PDF format) for authentication purposes.
iii) Facility for online payment of consent fee through Net Banking/Credit Card/Debit Card.
iv)The status of the online application can be tracked by the applicant. Also, SMS alerts are sent to registered mobile numbers at different stages of online processing and the inspection report can also be viewed by Applicants.
v)Applicants can download digitally signed Consent and Authorization orders from their logins. The digitally signed Consent and Authorization orders are also available in the Board’s website (https://kspcb.gov.in).
Further to this, in compliance with action points of EODB, the Board has implemented the following:
- It has issued CTE with a validity of 5 years for non-Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) Projects and co-terminus with Environment Clearance (“EC”) in case of EIA projects and CTO with a validity of 10 years, 5 years and 5 years for Green, Orange and Red category industry/organization respectively.
- It has published a well-defined compliance inspection procedure and Checklist on its website.
- It has provided a facility for third parties to verify the approval certificates (Consent Order) in the public domain.
- It has exempted Green Industries with a history of satisfactory compliance from environmental compliance inspection.
- It has implemented the provision for random inspection of highly polluting industries.
Source: Karnataka State Pollution Control Board
