In January 2020, Anil Kumar Jha, who stepped down as Chairman, Coal India Limited, the Maharatna coal mining company, was appointed as a member of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, Government of India, through a Government Gazette of 23 July. Jha will hold the office as an EAC member for a one-year term until 5 June 2021.
The Central Government has established an arrangement for the assessment of projects that have begun work without prior environmental clearance, and such cases have been identified as cases of violation. The role of the EAC, which includes members with expertise in various sectors, is to assess and make recommendations to the central government on violation cases in all sectors. The specialist committee’s function is to provide recommendations on environmental clearances on the various government programs.
The ten-member committee consisting of the chairman, including Jha, as a member, assumes importance for the protection of the overall environmental status and also, on the basis of merit, advises on environmental clearance.
As per 2006 report from the Environment Impact Association, reviews of different plans have four phases which are screening, scoping, public hearing and assessment. As stated, this committee participated in various capacities in all the stages except for public hearing. Jha has three decades of experience in coal mining operations under his belt, and from May 2018 to January 2020 he headed CIL, the world’s single largest coal production company. Throughout his time as Chief of CIL he implemented several evacuation infrastructure projects and logistics upgrades.
