We have shared in our piece how OIL received exemption from conducting a public hearing in #DibruSaikhowa more than once. But online availability of information on this environmental clearance of OIL deserves a special mention. So here is a thread on it.
A simple search on the website of Parivesh for EC to exploration in #DibruSaikhowa by OIL produces the below row. When we clicked on the ToR folder it was dated Feb 28, 2008. Since a ToR expires in 3 (max 4) years, it left us perplexed. How come this ToR was valid till recently? 
We went through the ToR. There are several projects of OIL which have been granted clearance between 2008 and now. We couldn’t figure out for the longest of time, which project this ToR belonged to. It definitely was not for the drilling clearance granted in May 2020!
The #EIA report was our next halt. There a ToR of 2016 was mentioned. This raised more questions- Was the ToR of 2008, extended, modified or did it lapse and a new ToR was issued? But this 2016 ToR was still not to be found anywhere.
So we looked for more documents re the May 2020 clearance. We came across this form. But here too the same ToR! It seemed like we had hit a dead end. But then we decided to look for minutes of meeting of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) that examined the project application.
The EAC meeting minutes that appear on a search on Parivesh are of Jan 2020 & May 2019. The gap b/w 2008 and 2019 was still unexplained. But then a closer reading of the minutes led us to past meetings of EAC & standing committee wildlife. Slowly, the gaps started to fill up.
Once all the minutes & clearances were put together, it became clear tht the ToR of 2008 was for another project of OIL in which a public hearing (PH) was conducted in 2011. This was one of the PHs tht OIL requested the EAC to consider as a reason enough 4 bypassing a PH in 2019!
The RTI Act 2005 mandates suo motu disclosure of information. It applies to all public authorities. But if clearance and compliance information is provided in fractions at different webpages, can it be considered transparency? Can it facilitate a genuine public scrutiny?
