On July 28, 2020, the government appointed the former chairman of Coal India Ltd. (CIL), Anil Kumar Jha, as a member of Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) that deals with violation of environment rules.
About Committee:
The EAC formed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) appraises projects that are commissioned without obtaining prior environmental clearance and have been termed as cases of violation. The panel was earlier constituted in June 2017 for three years. Its tenure has now been extended till June 2021.
- The role of the panel is to appraise and make recommendations to the centre with respect to cases of environment rules violation.
About Anil Kumar Jha:
He retired as of Coal India’s chairman in January 2020 with three decades of experience in coal mining. During his tenure Coal India’s output surpassed 600 million tonnes in 2018-19.
About Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC):
Union Minister– Prakash Javadekar
Minister of State– Babul Supriyo
