Central Empowered Committee seeks carrying capacity studies for Himachal's tourist hubs
The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court has recommended carrying capacity studies for Himachal Pradesh's major tourist destinations. It also wants mandatory environmental clearance considered for hill roads of two or more lanes and railway lines. It found compensatory afforestation 3,707 hectares behind target. On 27 October, the Court gave the State time to respond.
Syllabus: Prelims · Environment & Ecology; GS3 · Infrastructure; GS3 · Environment & Conservation
Why this matters for UPSC
GS3 environment: conservation, environmental impact assessment and disaster management in Himalayan States. Prelims can ask about the Central Empowered Committee and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016; Mains, about carrying capacity and clearance for hill roads.
Why it matters
A family living below a widened hill road carries the risk when a slope cut almost vertically gives way in the rains. Today each hotel, homestay or road is weighed largely on its own permission, so no single office adds up what a whole valley can bear. If the State adopts the committee's approach, new building in crowded tourist towns would first need a study of water, slopes, traffic and waste, and wider hill roads could face a fuller environmental check. Some projects may slow down and cost more. In return, the State could see fewer landslides that close highways, strand travellers and pull public money into repairs, the recurring harm that led the Supreme Court to take up the State's ecology.
Prelims pointers
- The Supreme Court first set up the CEC by an order of 9 May 2002 in T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India (W.P.(C) 202/1995).
- Under its 2023 notification, the CEC has a Chairman, a Member Secretary and three expert members, one each from environment, forest and wildlife.
- The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) was created under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016.
- A 2023 amendment renamed the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 as the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
- NITI Aayog's 2018 thematic reports on the Indian Himalayan Region recommended applying the carrying capacity concept to major tourist destinations.
- The EIA Notification, 2006 sorts projects into Category 'A' and Category 'B' by the spatial extent of their likely impacts; new national highways fall in Category 'A'.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), consider the following statements:
1. It was first set up in 2002 by the Supreme Court in the M.C. Mehta v. Union of India case.
2. It can call for documents from the Union or a State government and undertake site inspections.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer
Answer: (b) 2 only
Answer: (b) 2 only. The CEC came out of the T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad forest case, and calling for documents and inspecting sites are among its listed powers.
Statement 1: incorrect. The Supreme Court set up the CEC by its order of 9 May 2002 in T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India (W.P.(C) 202/1995), not in an M.C. Mehta case.
Statement 2: correct. The 2023 notification lets the CEC call for documents from the Union or a State government and undertake site inspections.
Eliminate: Statement 2 restates a listed power, so it is true. Out: (a), (d).
Eliminate: Statement 1 places the CEC in the wrong case. Out: (c).
Trap: Swapped attribution. M.C. Mehta is the best-known name in Indian environmental litigation, so it is easy to pin the CEC on it.
Remember: CEC: Godavarman forest case, Court order of 2002; permanent under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, in 2023.
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