Chandigarh, Dec. 14 -- The Central government will reconstitute the State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) for Chandigarh, key statutory bodies responsible for granting environmental clearances to projects.

The reconstitution will be carried out under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC) notification issued in 2006. These committees play a crucial role in decentralising the environmental clearance (EC) process by empowering states and Union Territories to clear Category 'B' projects, which would otherwise be handled at the central level.

The SEIAA functions as the decision-making ...