CTE And CTO From Pollution Control Board

All the industries/ activities, which fall under Red category, shall obtain Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) from the State Pollution Control Board. For CTE, the details of proposed activity shall be submitted online in prescribed format on the website of the state pollution control board. Applications for CTE will then be scrutinized and inspected by a concerned officer of the state pollution control board and it will be decided whether to grant consent or not. If consent is granted, the applicant shall proceed for further formalities for obtaining CTO.

For CTO, the application form shall be filled up online in the prescribed format on the website of the state pollution control board. A copy of the application along with all the supporting documents required (as mentioned in checklist) and application fee shall be submitted to the state pollution control board personally or through Speed Post. All the documents required for obtaining CTO are mentioned in the checklist. Based on scrutiny of application by concerned officers, site inspection shall be performed. Further process as per Act shall be followed.

CTE or Consent to Establish

CTE or Consent to Establish is the first step towards establishing any industry, in any area including that of Red, Orange and Green category. The State Pollution Control Board issues Consent to Establish (NOC) to a project proponent prior to commencement of any construction / installation activities in the premises.

CTO or Consent To Operate

CTO or Consent To Operate is a document issued by the concerned State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) to authorize the operation of an industry, manufacturing unit, process in its jurisdiction.

In simple words CTO is nothing but a legal certificate from your SPCB which permits you to operate your business. This certificate is valid for two years and needs to be renewed every two years. Every business or industry that has a connection with the environment in any way, has to apply for CTO at their respective SPCB.

List of Industries That Require CTO/CTE From Pollution Control Board

The industries that require Consent to Establish or Consent to Operate (CTO or CTE) from the respective state pollution control boards are as follows:

Industries specified in Schedule I of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
Industries included in Part A or Part B of the First Schedule to the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.
Industries mentioned in Item 8 of the Schedule annexed to Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989.
Hazardous waste generating industries listed in the schedule appended to Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998.
Red category industries as identified by CPCB from time to time under Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986; whose effluent /emission is proposed for direct discharge into municipal sewers without any treatment; whose waste water is proposed for discharge into inland surface waters without adequate treatment; whose gaseous emissions are proposed for discharge through stack into atmosphere without any treatment etc.

PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING CTE/CTO From Pollution Control Board

Industries/ Establishments are required to obtain Consent to Establish (CTE) by the State Pollution Control Board prior to commencement of production and Consent to Operate (CTO) after commencement of production. The application for consent to establish (CTE) is made in Form I and consent to operate (CTO) is granted in Form II. The procedure for obtaining CTE and CTO from the Board is given below:

The application for consent should be submitted atleast 60 days before the proposed date of commencement of operation. A pre-investigation shall be carried out by the Board, which may take 2-3 months time. After successful completion of pre-investigation, the case will be put up before the Board for consideration. This process may take about 2-3 months time depending upon the number of cases in queue.

Inspection Report by SPCB:

For processing applications for CTE, inspection reports will be prepared by a team comprising officers from concerned Regional Office and Directorates of SPCB, as per laid down procedure. For this purpose, an Inspection Report program has been designed to suggest that whether an industry requires CTE or not.