A high-level committee set up to review environmental, forest and wildlife laws of the country was constituted without the mandatory approval of the Prime Minister, according to replies by the environment ministry to requests under the Right to Information Act.

Documents accessed under the transparency law by Rohit Choudhury, an environmental activist and member of EIA Resources and Response Centre, state that the high-level committee headed by former cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramanian was constituted under rules and regulations notified under an act of Parliament.

On being asked whether the Prime Minister's approval for constituting or reconstituting the panel was obtained through the cabinet secretary, the ministry merely replied that approval of "Hon'ble MEF and CC (Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change) was obtained".

The documents show that Envi ronment Minister Prakash Javadekar kept PM Narendra Modi out of loop on green panel.

Significantly, a ministry circular on the regulation of claims of non-official members of various committees, issued on June 14, 2011, clearly stated that approval of "prime minister through the cabinet secretary is necessary to set up or alter the composition of the committee to designate it as a high-level committee".

Though the RTI applicant also sought the bio-data of the members of the committee, the ministry replied that information in this regard was not available.

The committee, created by the ministry on August 29, submitted its report to Javadekar on November 18. However, the contents of the report have not been made public. The committee, which is administrative, has only an advisory role.

Responding to a query from Choudhury on why the work of the committee could not be outsourced, the ministry replied: "Outside experts are seniormost functionaries of the government and judiciary and their expertise is required for reviewing the acts and suggesting suitable amendments."

The committee was appointed to review the Environment Protection Act of 1986, Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, Forest Conservation Act of 1980, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981. Besides, it was asked to review all notifications issued under environmental laws and judgments of courts and tribunals related to these laws.

The committee comprised former environment secretary Vishwanath Anand, retired Delhi High Court judge A.K. Srivastav and former Additional Solicitor General K.N. Bhat. Civil society activists had opposed the inclusion of Anand as a member for his allegedly highrate of dismissals of environmental cases during his tenure as vicechairperson of the National Environment Appellate Authority irrespective of their merit.

RTI applicant Rohit Choudhury said: "As against the RTI replies, the fact remains that the panel is not constituted under any act or rules of Parliament. It doesn't have the approval of either the PM or cabinet secretary. An environment minister can approve the formation of committees other than high-level ones but here, he went beyond his ambit. The high-level panel has been clearly formed without examining the expertise of persons in environment, forest and wildlife laws. The ministry made no effort to check the background of people entrusted with the task. The sole aim seems to be dilution of laws."