Green Panel appointments of power and mining corporations' ex-heads raise question of ethics

NEW DELHI:  Officials who headed power and mining corporations will now give green clearance to upcoming projects in these sectors, raising questions of propriety.

An independent director of a private mining company, former CMD of NHPC and former director (Technical) of NTPC are among those appointed to the Union environment ministry's expert appraisal committees (EACs) as 'non-official' members with a mandate to assess damage to the environment by hydroelectric, thermal power and coal mining projects.

The appointments to the reconstituted EACs on Thermal Power and Coal Mining Projects and on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects have invited criticism, for their chairpersons and members either having conflict of interest or lacking expertise in the field. Gururaj P Kundargi, former CMD, Manganese Ore Mining Limited (MOIL), is the chairperson of EAC on Thermal Power and Coal Mining Projects.

What raises eyebrows is that Kundargi is currently an independent director of Bengaluru-based Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores Ltd and the company’s proposal for expansion in production capacity is under consideration by the panel headed by him.

Others panel members are PK Mohapatra, former director (Technical), NTPC; UJ Kahalekar, Professor (Civil Engineering), Govt College of Engineering, Aurangabad; and S Hampannavar, Professor, School of Electric and Electronic Engg, REVA University, Bengaluru. Questioning the appointments, environment lawyer Ritwick Dutta says the EAC, as it exists now, does not comprise of experts but unqualified ‘non-officials’.

"Since they are not experts in the relevant field, they cannot be expected to carry out any serious and scientific ‘appraisal’ of the EIA document and environmental impact of the projects. What we have is only a committee without experts capable of carrying out any appraisal. Any decision and advice rendered by such a panel should not be accepted as it will have adverse consequences both on the environment and on the rights of communities impacted by such decisions," said Dutta.

The EAC on River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects, too, has members who either have no expertise or have headed NHPC. K Gopakumar, chairperson of the committee, is professor, Dept of Electronics, IISc-Bengaluru while member Balraj Joshi is former CMD of NHPC. The other two members have no relevant experience.