The Delhi High Court on 14-10-2009 directed the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to ensure that the copy of the entire Environmental Clearance order is published in two local newspaper. As of now the project proponent only publishes a notice informing that the project has been accorded environmental clearance. No details are given about the clearance as a result of which affected people do not generally know the grounds for challenge. All mega projects require Environmental Clearance under the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification. The affected people have the option to challenge the same before the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) within a period of 30 days. However, due to lack of information most projects go unchallenged simple because the clearance order is inaccessible and only when the project work starts do affected communities know about it. The Order came as a result of an Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Ramesh Aggarwal of Jan Chetna, Raigarh, Chaittisgarh [W.P.(C) 11157 of 2009 & CM No. 10550/2009] who as been a relentless campaigner against the violations of the provisions of the EIA Notification. He is also part of the TAI India coalition and is using the TAI Toolkit in analyzing the public participation process in setting up of industries. The Judgement was delivered on 14-10-2009 by Justice Muralidhar. The operative portion are as follows: • “It transpires that the website of the MoEF uploads the orders granting environmental clearance long after they have been passed and invariably after the expiry period of 30 days which is the limitation for filing appeals. As a result, the persons who desire to file an appeal before the NEAA, and who are located outside Delhi, are unable to file them within time……. would be mandatory for MoEF to disclose on its website not only the information about the order granting environmental clearance in each case, but the entire order as well, not later than five days after the date of the order granting such clearance. This is because an aggrieved person, not being privy to the order granting environmental clearance, is unlikely to learn of the order within a reasonable time thereafter, except by looking for it on the website of the MoEF. • We are constrained to observe that if the remedy by way of an appeal before the NEAA [National Environment Appellate Authority] against an order granting environmental clearance has to be made meaningful, it would be the obligation of the MoEF to ensure that information of the passing of such order must be in the public domain at the earliest, and definitely within a period of five days of passing such order. Apart from uploading the full text of such order on its website, the MoEF will publish the said order in two local newspapers in the area in which the industry concerned (which has been granted permission) is located or is proposed to be located, one of which is in the local language. We direct accordingly The Ministry of Environment and Forest has an extremely poor record of compliance with orders of the High Court and it remains to be seen to what extent the Ministry implements this order in both letter and spirit.