Coastal regulation zone clearance for an industrial project
Who this applies to
- Test the site and every associated facility against the approved Coastal Zone Management Plan, not against a generic online image.
- The CRZ Notification, 2019 (G.S.R. 37(E), 18 January 2019) is read with later amendments and with the Coastal Zone Management Plan approved for the district.
- Tamil Nadu applies the plan approved under the 2011 Notification until its plan under the 2019 Notification is approved. Check which plan is approved for your district on the date you file.
What CRZ clearance is
Industrial development in a mapped coastal regulation zone can require CRZ clearance, or it can be restricted or prohibited, depending on the zone and the activity. The CRZ Notification, 2019 (G.S.R. 37(E), 18 January 2019) replaced the 2011 Notification, but it applies in a State only once that State's Coastal Zone Management Plan under the 2019 Notification is approved. Until then, Tamil Nadu applies the plan approved under the 2011 Notification. Check which plan is approved for your district on the date you file, and do not rely on an unofficial map or a meeting minute.
CRZ clearance is not environmental clearance, planning permission or a pollution consent, and holding any of those does not answer the coastal question.
What it costs to get wrong
Starting a regulated coastal work without the clearance the notification requires for that activity and zone is the breach. This page does not state a penalty. The usual route to that mistake is testing only the factory plot and ignoring an intake, outfall, pipeline, road, jetty or utility corridor, which is how a site comes to be wrongly described as outside the zone.
The process
Put the project on the approved plan
Obtain the coordinates, the cadastral overlay and the approved CZMP sheet, and include every associated facility. Where the notification requires a survey, have the high-tide line, the low-tide line and the CRZ category delineated through the authorised route.
Decide whether the activity is permitted
Work out whether the activity is permissible, regulated or prohibited in that category, applying the 2019 categories only alongside the transition status of the Tamil Nadu plan. An unapproved online map is not the legal plan.
Obtain the clearance before the regulated work
Prepare the layout, the coastal or marine impact material and the disaster-management information the procedure asks for, and file through PARIVESH or the National Single Window System to the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority or MoEFCC, depending on how the activity is allocated. Have the recommendation and the clearance in hand before the regulated work starts. A later change of layout or capacity needs its own amendment.
Common failure points
- Ignoring the pipeline or the outfall.
- Using an unofficial map as the Coastal Zone Management Plan.
- Treating environmental clearance as CRZ clearance.
- Applying 2019 category labels without the approved district plan.
Building on the coast, or running a pipeline to it?
Send us the coordinates and what you propose to build, including outfalls and access. We will tell you which map has to be the legal one before anyone calls the project outside the zone.