One of the most contentious changes proposed in the draft environmental impact assessment notification, 2020 in India is the circumvention of public consultations for the expansion of projects for up to 50% of their original capacity. Similar exemption from public hearing, albeit for 40% capacity expansion, has been permitted as a special case for the coal mining sector since 2017. The minutes of the meetings of the coal mining expert appraisal committee between August 2017 and January 2021, which reviewed the requests for coal mine expansion, are analysed herein. It was found that the expert appraisal committees had effectively sidelined the environmental- and non-compliance-related concerns and that the review and approval process was influenced by the pressure from external stakeholders with vested interests.
