MoEF dilutes land acquisition rules for environment clearance

Giving major relaxations to mining, highway and other major development works, the Centre has removed land acquisition as a prerequisite for providing environment clearance (EC) for works.

In October 2014, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued rules for development agencies, which sought EC for projects listed in the Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2006. The rules made preliminary notification for land acquisition or “credible document” showing the status of land acquisition mandatory for obtaining EC from the state and central expert appraisal committees.

In an office memorandum dated December 18, 2025, the ministry listed four sets of projects, which could be cleared without the need for land acquisition details. Among other things, the exempted projects include “mining of minerals, slurry pipelines (coal, lignite and other ones)” passing through national parks/sanctuaries/coral reefs, ecologically sensitive areas and highways.

The relaxation comes in the wake of recommendations by an expert appraisal committee for non-coal mining projects. “Based on the inputs received, it was observed that insisting for land acquisition documents at the time of appraisal for EC, may not be practical for certain other projects such as coal mining, oil and gas exploration and production, highways, etc,” the ministry said.

Making land acquisition a prior requirement for EC had indirectly helped bring some transparency in the impact of the projects regardless of what user agencies and state actors said. At minimum, those who stood to lose the land would get to know about it before the issuing of EC.

Manohar Kumar C B, Green Lives Shivamogga Trust, noted that user agencies will come armed with EC for speedy land acquisition. “The dilution will reduce participation in the public hearing, conducted prior to EC. It’s very clear that farmers will be the biggest losers. What’s not obvious is the loss of rural commons like grazing lands. By the time any credible opposition to acquisition is made, the EC would have already been processed,” he added.

Deepak C N, state president of Karnataka Rashtra Samithi, said the office memorandum is yet another blow by the Union government to the environment. “The government is helping mining and industry lobbies at the cost of farmers and downtrodden, who will be affected by these dilutions,” he added.