The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) on November 25, 2026, issued clarification regarding implementation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for obtaining comments from SPCBs/PCCs through PARIVESH Portal.
The Ministry through notifications dated November 12, 2024, exempted projects that have obtained prior Environmental Clearance (EC) from the requirement of obtaining Consent to Establish (CTE) from SPCBs/PCCs. To implement this, detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) were issued via Office Memoranda (OMs) dated January 14, 2025 and October 08, 2025. These SoPs require that, even though CTE is exempted, comments from SPCBs/PCCs be obtained through the PARIVESH portal before granting EC. This provision was made live on PARIVESH with effect from October 24, 2025 for all EC-related cases.
Subsequently, SPCBs pointed out that mining of minor minerals (such as sand and stone) never required CTE under the Water and Air Acts, yet under the new PARIVESH workflow these projects were also being routed to SPCBs/PCCs for comments. The Ministry clarified that the OMs of January 14, 2025 and October 08, 2025 apply only to those projects for which both EC and CTE were mandatory prior to November 12, 2024 under the EIA Notification, 2006. For projects requiring EC but not CTE prior to that date, SEIAAs may grant EC without waiting for SPCB/PCC comments or fees, as no additional safeguards are required.
On a request for deferment to allow smoother transition and capacity building, the Ministry decided that the “designated date” in the OM dated October 8, 2025 shall be treated as January 31, 2026. Accordingly, for projects granted EC between November 12, 2024 and January 31, 2026, and for which CTE had been mandatory earlier, environmental safeguards from SPCBs/PCCs must be obtained within 30 days from January 31, 2026 or from the date of EC, whichever is earlier, as per paragraph 4E of the OM dated January 14, 2025.
Similarly, projects accepted on the PARIVESH portal on or before January 31, 2026 for EC appraisal or processing, and which earlier required CTE, must obtain the prescribed environmental safeguards from the concerned SPCB/PCC within 30 days from the date of grant of EC, in accordance with paragraph 4E of the OM dated January 14, 2025.
[Notification No. IA-J-11013/20/2025-IA-P]
