Environmental clearance for your project
Who this applies to
- Your project or activity appears in the EIA Notification 2006 Schedule. Not every industrial activity does, and the schedule is the only source that settles this, not a general impression of project size.
- If listed, your project falls into Category A, B1, or B2, determined by the schedule's own thresholds for your specific activity type. This is not a judgement call, it is read off the schedule entry.
- An expansion or modernisation of an existing unit can trigger EC even where the original unit predates the notification or was itself exempt. Check the expansion against the schedule separately.
Which category applies to you: before anything else
Environmental Clearance is not a single approval from a single body. Which authority handles it, and what process applies, depends on which category your project falls into under the EIA Notification 2006 Schedule. Determine your category before reading further.
- Category A: appraised centrally by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), with clearance granted by MoEFCC.
- Category B: appraised by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), with clearance
granted by SEIAA Tamil Nadu. Category B splits further:
- B1: the EIA process, including public consultation, except where the current notification leaves public consultation out.
- B2: no EIA report or public hearing required; appraised at application level only.
Which of these applies is read off the Schedule entry for that activity, at that scale, in that location. It is not inferred from a similar project.
Schedule item 8(a) is one entry, not a rule for industrial projects. It covers building and construction projects with a built-up area of at least 20,000 sq. m and less than 1,50,000 sq. m. Built-up area means the covered area on all floors, including basements and other service areas proposed in the project. General Conditions do not apply to this item (EIA Notification 2006, Schedule item 8(a), as compiled by MoEFCC to January 2026).
S.O. 523(E), 29 January 2025, added Note 1 to that entry. The note would have left out industrial sheds, schools, colleges, and hostels for educational institutions. The Supreme Court set Note 1 aside in Vanashakti v. Union of India, 2025 INSC 961, on 5 August 2025. Do not treat an industrial shed as outside item 8(a) because of that note. Item 8(a) still does not decide whether the industrial activity itself needs clearance under a different Schedule item.
Do not use that band for a manufacturing activity, a township, or any other Schedule item. Item 8(b), townships and area development, is a separate entry: at least 50 hectares and/or at least 1,50,000 sq. m built-up area, appraised as Category B1. Every other activity has its own threshold and its own A, B1, or B2 split.
Public consultation, which includes a public hearing, applies to Category A and Category B1 subject to the exceptions in paragraph 7(i) of the EIA Notification 2006, as compiled by MoEFCC. Items 8(a) and 8(b) are on that list where the project contains no Category A activity. Other exceptions are on the same list. Read the current paragraph for this project. Do not treat the hearing as automatic (EIA Notification 2006, para 7(i)).
What it costs to get wrong
A project or activity listed in the Schedule needs prior environmental clearance before any construction work, or any preparation of land other than securing the land, is started (EIA Notification 2006, para 2, read with the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, s.3). Starting earthwork, construction, or operations on a covered project without that clearance is the breach the Notification is written to prevent.
A later application does not stand in for the clearance that was required beforehand. This page does not treat a clearance obtained after work has started as curing that start.
Filing under the wrong category sends the application to the wrong authority. Other permissions, including TNPCB consent for a listed activity, can also stall while EC is outstanding. That sequencing is how the approvals are commonly coordinated. It is not stated here as a clause of the Notification. See pollution control consents.
The process
Determine your Schedule category
Confirm whether the activity is listed, and if so whether it is Category A, B1, or B2. That choice sets the authority, and whether an EIA report and public consultation are required. Public consultation for Category A and Category B1 is subject to paragraph 7(i). Item 8(a) above is only the building and construction example. Every other activity is read from its own Schedule entry.
File Form 1 through PARIVESH
Applications are filed online through the PARIVESH portal (parivesh.nic.in). Form 1 is the application. Building and construction projects under item 8 also use Form 1A. The Schedule category routes a Category A case to MoEFCC and the EAC, and a Category B case to SEIAA Tamil Nadu and the SEAC. The portal is the administrative route. The legal requirement remains prior clearance under para 2 before construction or land preparation starts.
Category B1 and Category A: EIA report and public hearing
Category A projects, and Category B1 projects, require an Environmental Impact Assessment report and public consultation before appraisal, except where paragraph 7(i) leaves public consultation out. Category B2 projects are appraised on the application. They still need clearance. They do not skip the Notification because the hearing is not required. A project that is excepted from the hearing still needs prior clearance if the Schedule lists it.
Appraisal and grant or refusal
The appraising committee, the EAC for Category A and the SEAC for Category B, appraises a complete application and recommends grant or refusal. The regulatory authority then grants or refuses the clearance. Do not plan the project's life around a remembered validity period. Confirm the current provision for your activity before you treat the clearance as open-ended or about to lapse.
Common failure points
- Assuming a category from a similar project elsewhere instead of reading the Schedule entry for this activity. Scale and location can move a project between categories.
- Using the item 8(a) area band for a factory process. That row is building and construction. A manufacturing activity is tested against its own Schedule item.
- Treating B2's lighter process as "EC doesn't really apply here". B2 still requires clearance. It skips the EIA report and the hearing.
- Starting work, then applying. Prior clearance is required before construction or land preparation. A later application is not described here as a way to regularise that start.
- Missing that an expansion can trigger EC even when the original facility never needed it.
Not sure which EC category applies to your project?
Send us your project type, scale, and location. We'll tell you whether the EIA Notification 2006 Schedule lists it, and if so, which category and appraisal route applies.