Guidelines as on 2026 relating to Grant, Refusal or Cancellation of Consent under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 as Amended.
The Amendment to the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 as made in 2024 introduces a new section 27A as follows:
“27A. (1) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the Central Government in consultation with the Central Board, may, by notification in the Official Gazette, issue guidelines on the matters relating to the grant, refusal or cancellation of consent by any State Board for establishment of any industry, operation or process, or treatment and disposal system or to bringing into use of a new or altered outlet including the mechanism for time-bound disposal of the application made under section 25 or period of validity of such consent. (2) Every State Board, in discharge of its functions for the purposes of grant, refusal or cancellation of consent under section 25 or section 27 shall act in accordance with the guidelines issued under sub-section (1).”
In compliance to these Provisions, the Moef and CC published a notification on 30-01-2025, through GSR 85 (E), and named it the, “Control of Water Pollution (Grant, Refusal or Cancellation of Consent) Guidelines 2025”. This has been amended by GSR 63 (E) dated 23-01-2026 and called the Control of Water Pollution (Grant, Refusal or Cancellation of Consent) Amendment Guidelines, 2026.
Although the term ‘’Industrial Units” is used for control of Water Pollution through these guidelines, it applies to all disposal systems because Industrial Unit has been defined to mean, “Industry, Operation, or Process or Treatment and Disposal Systems”. The applicability is just not restricted to Industrial operations.
The guidelines also define capital investment as the investment made in fixed assets (Land, Building, Plant, Machinery including Pollution Control), without depreciation. Operation costs shall not be included. In case of leased land, 10 times the annual lease value shall be taken as the land cost or value of property.
Many difficult provisions of the 2025 notification have been done away with including location requirements for consent to establish and renewal of consents but there are still some issues which may have needed a little more attention. I have tried to flag them in parenthesis and in bold in this article.
Based on a comparative understanding of both the notifications (2025 and 2026) a summary of guidelines as may apply now are being given below as per the paragraphing used in the notifications.
Paragraph 3
Application of consent to establish or operate an industrial unit under section 25 of the Act shall be made in the prescribed form and for a period of 5 to 25 years as opted by the project proponent and accompanied with such fees as prescribed by the State Government in consultation with the State Board. The amount of fee will not be more than the provisions in Schedule 2 of the guidelines the State Board can only reduce the fee.
Paragraph 4
Consent to establish shall be valid for 5 years extendable by 2 years on request that is a total 7 years from date of grant.
The consent to operate shall continue to remain valid till it is cancelled in accordance to provisions of para 13 of these guidelines.
Paragraph 5
The fee will be notified by the State Government in consultation with the State Board but it shall not be more than the fee specified in the schedule 2 to guidelines. State Boards may reduce the fee for which there are no limits prescribed. State Boards may also increase the fee, not more than once in 02 years and the increase would not exceed 10% of the existing fee.
Paragraph 6
Inspection for enquiry and verification can be done by such officers of the Board or any other officers as may be authorized by the Board, after giving the required notice of intent before visiting. This is important as it provides giving prior intimation of the intent before entering the premises.
The amendment of 2026 now makes a provision of Registered Environmental Auditor who could be commissioned by the project proponent to visit its premises for verifying the correctness of information in the consent form. Provisions have also been made that a State Board may engage an environmental Auditor in accordance with the Environment Audit Rules, 2025.
The reports as submitted by the Officers of the Board or the Registered Environmental Auditors will serve as the basis for decision making for grant of consent. (It is not clear as to what would happen in the event of the reports being in variance).
For Micro and small units located in Industrial estates or Industrial area duly notified by the State Government consent to establish shall be deemed to be granted once the self-certified application is submitted in Form-1 by the concerned project proponent.
Paragraph 7
A provision has been made for common consent under the Water Act and Authorization for all other wastes as covered under the E.P. Act and as applicable.
Paragraph 8
Applications for grant of consent to establish shall be granted or refused within 60 days for Red, 45 days for orange and 30 days for green. Refusal been deleted from the provision by the amendment of 2026. (Not clear if the Boards can refuse the application for consent to establish).
Applications for grant of consent to operate for the first time shall be disposed within 90 days for red, 60 days for orange, and 30 days for green. Disposal of applications for Extension beyond validity not clear.
Application for consent for expansion or amendment shall be disposed within 120 days for Red, 60 days for orange and 30 days for green. This has been amended in 2026 to 90,60 and 30 days respectively.
There is no provision for renewal of Consent.
If an application of consent is not disposed within this period it will be referred to the State Level Committee constituted under para 15 of these guidelines. The committee will dispose of the matter within 30 days of receipt. The case shall be presented by the Member Secretary of the State Board before the committee.
The committee may fix responsibilities for delay and recommend appropriate disciplinary action. The State Board will have to comply. The committee may also present the case before the current adjudicating officer for contravention.
Paragraph 9
Earlier stipulations regarding location specific requirements for consent to establish (as provided in the of the 2025 notification), have been removed in the amendment of 2026. There are no specific guidelines for location of Industrial Plants but it has been provided that the EAC (in the case of units needing E.C.) and the Pollution Control Boards/Committees (in case of units needing & Consent to Establish) will specify the general and specific conditions related to location of an industrial unit at a particular location along with appropriate environmental safeguards and/or mitigation measures taking into consideration the prevalent site conditions.
Paragraph 10
Para 10 of the 2025 notification relates to consent to establish. The Boards/ Committees may grant or refuse consent to establish on the basis of reports submitted by the Officers of the Board (or accompanied by such other Officers as authorized by the Boards; This has made third part assessments easier but the team has to be accompanied by an officer of the Board/ Committee) or the Registered Environmental Auditors to be appointed either by the project proponent or the Board. (The authorization to Officers other than Officers by the Board may not really be inline with the provisions in the act with authorizes only Officers of the Board to make inspections. Also, it is not clear as to what would happen if the reports from the Officers of the Board and the reports from the Environmental Auditors are at variance).
For Micro and small units located in Industrial areas duly notified, consent to establish shall be deemed to be granted once the self-certified application is submitted in Form-1. (Here it is not clear if the application has to be certified by the Project proponent or by the Registered Environmental Auditor).
Consent conditions would include provision of approved control equipment and conditions related to good working. (Specification of outlets, quantity of discharge and quality of discharge are not mentioned in this inclusive list of conditions which may need to be examined in relation to consent conditions as provided under sections 25/26 of the Act where it is provided that the condition should be related only to the use of outlet or the point of final discharge and conditions as to the nature and composition, temperature, volume or rate of discharge of the effluent from the land or premises).
Paragraph 11
Para 11 of the 2025 notification relates to consent to operate and provides for applications to be made in the prescribed form and with the prescribed fee along with compliance of conditions stipulated in the consent to establish and the environmental clearance. Procedures for inspection by the officers of the Board and the conditions that can be imposed including specification of the control equipment (Not really in line with provisions oi Sections 25/26 of the Water Act), the period in which they have to be complied and the period of validity. The amendment of 2026 now makes a provision of a Registered Environmental Auditor also who could be engaged by the project proponent or by the Boards to inspect the premises and verify the contents of the consent application. This is in addition to this inspection to be made by the Boards Officers. For the purposes of grant of consent, these reports would be taken into consideration. The procedures to be adopted in case the two reports are contradictory may need to be worked out.
The consent conditions are inclusive and 04 in number, relating to operation of only approved control equipment’s, restriction on altering or replacing existing equipment without the approval of the State Board, the requirement of keeping the equipment running in good running conditions and the maintenance and operation of the outlet. The requirement of mentioning the validity period has been removed. A consent (For a period of 05 to 25 years) will be valid till such time as it is not cancelled by the Boards.
(Flow and quality of effluents have not been included in conditions to be stipulated as consent conditions. This is against section 25/26. The idea believed removing the validity period does not appear to be clear).
Paragraph 12
Para 12 relating to renewal of consent to operate has been eliminated from the amendment of 2026. Since consent to operate is perpetual unless it is cancelled, renewal does not appear to be an option.
Paragraph 13
The Boards have Powers to refuse or cancel a consent
- If the unit does not satisfy location criteria. (Removed 2026).
- Non-compliance of conditions of consent.
- Non-compliance of conditions of Environmental Clearance (E.C.).
- Variations in process and its operations.
- Non-compliance of effluent standards and failure to upgrade ETP or any other equipment.
- Non-compliance of court directions, guidelines, notifications and SOPs. (Very wide sweep. Could be restricted to Court Directions and Consent Conditions only).
- Accidental discharges of effluents or emissions causing grave danger to environment.
- Occurrence of accident resulting in damage to existing system and environment.
- Nonpayment of fee, Environmental Compensation or Bank guarantee.
- Industrial units proposed in prohibited areas (What about units already set up?)
- Submissions of incomplete information.
- Violation of the provisions of any other rules and regulation (This is again very Sweeping. Boards may not be authorized or equipped to handle violations in Acts, Rules and regulation not covered under its Mandate).
- Before refusing or cancelling an opportunity to be heard is to be granted.
Paragraph 14
A monitoring committee at national level consisting of the following members shall oversee and monitor the implementation of these guidelines, namely: – a) Additional Secretary or Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, dealing with the Act-Chairman; b) Member Secretary of the Central Board – Member secretary. c) Member Secretaries of five State Boards to be nominated by the Central Government by rotation for three years -Member. d) any other member as may be co-opted by the committee with the approval of the Central Government. (2) The monitoring committee shall have at least one meeting in every quarter of the year.
Paragraph 15
In case the application for consent is not decided by the State Board within the period specified the case shall be referred to the State Level Monitoring Committee which shall dispose of the application within thirty days from the date of its receipt. The Member Secretary of the State Board shall present the case before the Committee. While deciding on such application, the Committee shall look into causes of delay in grant or refusal of the consent and recommend appropriate disciplinary action where the reasons of delay are not justified and the State Board shall comply with such decision. The Committee may also recommend presenting the case for contravention of the Act before concerned adjudicating officer under section 45B of the Act and shall also oversee and monitor the implementation of these guidelines.
The State Level Monitoring Committee shall consist of the following members: – a) Secretary to the State Government in-charge of the Department of Environment of the State or Union territory- Chairman; b) Member Secretary of the State Board- Member, c) An officer of the state Environment Department nominated by State Government – Member Secretary d) Regional Director of the Central Board having jurisdiction – Member.
Also See: The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Bill, 2024