The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on a plea seeking contempt proceedings against the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for failing to publish the translated versions of the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification in all 22 languages of the Eighth Schedule.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the Centre to respond to the contempt petition filed by environmental conservationist Vikrant Tongad while posting the case for hearing on August 17.
Mr. Tongad, in his contempt plea, accused the Ministry of “wilful disobediance and deliberate defiance” of the order of the High Court passed on June 30 to publish the draft EIA in the vernacular languages to enable the general public to give their comments, objections or recommendations.
“Such a meaningful (public) consultation was not only difficult but nearly impossible due to the disruption caused by COVID-9, and the failure of the Respondents (Ministry) in giving wide publicity to the provisions of the draft notification, as well as the failure to translate the draft into the regional Indian languages,” the contempt plea said.
Moreover, the Ministry has even failed to upload the draft EIA in the English and Hindi language on the websites of the State Environment Ministries and State Pollution Control Boards, versions of which languages were already available, the contempt petition added.
Previously, the HC had extended the time granted to public for giving opinion on the controversial draft EIA till August 11.
