GEORGE TOWN – The fishing community here has won its appeal at the Department of Environment (DoE) that resulted in the revocation of the Penang South Islands’ (PSI) environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval.
The EIA approval was issued on June 25, 2019.
The successful appeal, led by Zakaria Ismail, the head of the fishermen’s union of Sg Batu, is set to impede the PSI project further.
The fishing community led by Zakaria was represented by Meenakshi Raman as lead counsel and was assisted by Jessica Binwani, Theiva Lingam and M.S. Kumaari.
While the DoE’s director-general was represented by Federal Counsel Puan Nurliyana.The appellant had initially filed a Notice of Appeal on July 29, 2019.
In the appeal board’s summary judgment, it was held that the DoE’s director-general had given consent using a draft structure plan, which was yet to be assented to by the governor and was hence illegal.
The board held that it was mandatory for the DG to comply with Section 34A(4)(a) EQA 1974 in approving the EIA report.
The said section requires any person intending to carry out any prescribed activity to submit a report on the impact on the environment to the director of environmental quality for examination.
“The approved draft RSNPP2030 by the State Planning Committee relied upon by the respondent (the DoE) was not sufficient for the purposes of Section 34A(4)(a) EQA 1974.
“It was not the development plan within the ambit of the section and it continued to remain a draft structure plan, as it had not been assented to yet by the state authority (which is the governor), which is required under Section 10(6) of the Town and Country Planning Act 76, for the draft to become legally effective,” read the judgment.
The decision was made by a three-member environmental appeals board led by sessions court judge Rozina Ayub.
In a statement, Meena, said the decision is significant, as it is not only important for the Penang South Reclamation project case but for all EIA approvals by the DoE.
“The appeal board’s decision is most important for understanding how the director-general of the DoE must make decisions to ensure that the projects for which EIAs are done are in accordance with the structure plans or local plans that are legally effective.”
According to the law, she added, while the decision of the Appeal Board is final, her team will have to wait and see if the defence will appeal the decision.
“Either this is not the end of it or this is just the beginning, and we have wait for their reactions as they need to submit a fresh plan for the EIA report to go ahead with the project.” – The Vibes, September 8, 2021
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