MoEF proposes amendments in Environment Protection Act, to decriminalize provisions

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change sought feedback from experts and other stakeholders on Friday as it proposed to decriminalise the existing provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986.

Incidentally, the current EPA provisions will govern the penalties in case of the single-use plastic ban that came into effect Friday.

The ministry has proposed to replace imprisonment with monetary penalty for the “less severe” contraventions under the EPA, an overarching law that supersedes other environment laws such as the Water and Air Act, which will also be decriminalised.

However, serious violations of EPA which lead to grievous injury or loss of life shall be covered under the provision of Indian Penal Code.