Site Appraisal Committee

[Rule 61E of The Assam Factories Rules,1950]

(1)   Constitution the following provision shall govern the functioning of the Site Appraisal Committee, hereinafter, be referred to as the “Committee” in the these rules –
  (a) State Government may constitute a Site Appraisal Committee with the members as provided under Section 41A (i) (a) to (i) and reconstitute the Committee as and when necessary;
  (b) The State Government may appoint a senior official of the Factories Inspectorate, preferable with qualification in Chemical Engineering to be the Secretary of the Committee;
  (c) The State Government may in addition co-opt the following as members of the Committee-
     (i) A representative of the Fire Service organization of the State Government;
     (ii) A representative of the State Department of Industries;
     (iii)A representative of the Director General of Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes, Mumbai.

(2)   No member; unless required to so by a Court of Law, shall disclose otherwise than in, connection with the purposes of the Act, at any time any information relating to manufacturing or Commercial business or any working process which may come to his knowledge during his tenure as a Member on this Committee.

(3)   Applications for appraisal of Sites –
  (a) Applications for appraisal of sites in respect of the factories covered under Section 2 (cb) of the Act. shall be submitted to the Chairman of this Site Appraisal Committee;
  (b) The application for site appraisal along with 15 copies thereof shall be submitted in the Form annexed to this Rule. The Committee may dispense with furnishing information on any particular item in the Application Form if it considers the same to be not relevant to the application under Consideration.

(4)   Functions of the Committee -
  (a) The Secretary shall arrange to register the application received for appraisal of site in a separate register and acknowledge the same within a period of 7 days;
  (b) The Secretary shall fix up meeting in such a manner that all the applications received and registered are referred to the Committee within a period of one month from the date of their receipt;
  (c) The Committee may adopt a procedure for its working keeping in view the need for expeditious disposal of applications;
  (d) The Committee shall examine the application for appraisal of a site with reference to the prohibitions and restrictions on the location of industry and the carrying on of processes and operations in different areas as per the provisions of Rule 5 of the Environment (Protection Act. 1986);
  (e) The Committee may call for documents, examine experts inspect the site if necessary and take other steps for formulating its views in regard to the suitability of the site;
  (f) Wherever the proposed site requires clearance by the Ministry of Industry or the Ministry of Environment and Forests the application for Site Appraisal will be considered by the Site Appraisal Committee only after such clearance has been received.