Mumbai: The state legislature on Friday passed a resolution for the implementation of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024, introduced by the Centre in February 2024.
About The Act
The Act is a part of ‘Ease of Doing Business’. The Act has provisions for penal action instead of imprisonment for violation of petty offences as well as decriminalising some of them. Instead of imprisonment, the law has a provision to levy a penalty ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15 lakh. The resolution was moved by the environment and climate change minister Pankaja Munde in both houses of the state legislature.
The states can adopt the Centre’s legislation by moving a resolution in the respective legislatures. With this, Maharashtra has become the eighth state to implement it after Gujarat, Goa, Rajasthan, Assam, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. The Ease of Doing Business intends to lessen the harshness of legal provisions and streamline them with guidelines for appointments of the chairman of the state pollution control boards.
Central Govt Issues Guidelines For Issuing Approvals
The Central government has issued some guidelines for issuing approvals, licenses, rejections, or annulments in some cases that will now come into force in the state of Maharashtra as well. For some industrial units, relief will be given from availing permissions to start a venture. The Act also prohibits violation of standards regarding polluting water bodies or land, barring some exemptions, which include depositing non-polluting material on the bank of a stream for reclaiming land.
Violation of these provisions is punishable with an imprisonment term between 18 months and six years, and a fine. The Bill removes the punishment and instead, imposes a penalty between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15 lakh. If a government officer violates the provisions of the Act, he will lose a month’s basic salary.
An important feature of the act is, that if a company is found guilty under the provisions of the Act, not just the company officials but the responsible secretary of the company and the officers concerned will be liable for the criminal proceedings and the punishments prescribed.
