Water Waste

Consent to Operate Certificate for Healthcare Establishments

The world is slowly realizing the lethal consequences of increasing pollution primarily caused by industrial waste that they carelessly dispose of to the human health and environment, have provoked many government authorities of different countries to take steps to regulate and monitor the working of Industries and curb the waste produced by them. In this blog we have discussed about Consent to Operate Certificate.

In India, to address the increasing pollution in the Water and Air, the government enacted The Water Act, 1974, and The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, with the objective of establishing guidelines for industries and standards for the Air and Water qualities. These laws also delegate the responsibilities to Central Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committee to monitor the working of these industries and make policies when needed.

Healthcare Facilities, although very important for any country, are notorious for causing maximum pollution with hazardous bio-waste that is discarded by these facilities carelessly to the landfill, causing infections and severe damage to the environment. Keeping this in mind Central Pollution Control Board, as per the latest notification, has categorised Healthcare Facilities under the Red Category of Industrial Classification.  

Certificate of Consent under the Air and Water Act

The Consent Certificates are mandated under The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and The Air Act, 1981 to monitor and regulate the pollution caused by various effluents and emissions that industries are dumping in the water or releasing into the Air. The Consent Certificates are given in two steps first when the industry is about to establish, that is, Consent to Establish, and when the established industry is ready to function and operate, that is, Consent to Operate. Section 25 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974^[1], and Section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, stipulate the guidelines to be followed while applying for authorisation of Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate. As per these provisions, the Certificates are provided by the State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committee to the industries that fall within their jurisdiction.

Because every state authority has the power to grant the certificates, they have their procedures or a few additional guidelines that industries of that particular state have to follow. For instance, the industries falling under the jurisdiction of the Punjab Pollution Control Board have to register mandatorily through an Online Platform, whereas the industries that come under the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board have to take permission from the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health for Authorisation of CTE/CTO or renewal of the Certificates of Consent.

Process for obtaining Consent to Operate for Healthcare Establishment

The Process of acquiring the Consent to Operate the Certificate is governed under The Water and Air act regulated by the Central Pollution Control Board. As per the stipulated guidelines, the industries are established under four categories Red, Orange, Green, and White, in accordance with the Pollution Index. The industries that are categorised under the White category are not required to obtain a Consent to operate Certificate. As per the latest notification by Central Pollution Control Board, the Health care facility are categorised under Red Industries.

• For applying to acquire the consent to operate Certificate, the industry has to apply in 30 days advance before the commission of the operation.
• The application is submitted through OCMMS (Online Consent Management and Monitoring System). Once the application is filled and submitted with the required documents, the inspector of the authority will examine the establishment to whether it is in accordance with the conditions imposed or not.
• Following the inspection, the report is framed by the authorities for review. If the report reflects that all the conditions are being fulfilled, then the consent to operate Certificate is granted.

List of Documents for Consent to Operate Certificate (CTO) for Health Care Facilities (those who have not obtained Consent to Establish)

1. Location plan and site plan for Healthcare facility
2. MOA (Memorandum of Association)/Partnership deed
3. Land Documents, including Registration deeds or rent deeds, or lease deeds
4. Proof of date of Commissioning of Healthcare Facility
5. Declaration of Detailed number of beds and dental chairs installed
6. Status of Authorisation under Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016
7. Dimension drawing of STP/ETP
8. Master Plan of the area

List of Documents for Consent to Operate Certificate (CTO) for Health Care Facilities (those who have obtained Consent to Establish)

1. Dimension drawing of STP/ETP
2. Declaration of Detailed number of beds and dental chairs installed
3. Compliance Report of the Consent to Establish
4. Status of Authorisation under Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 (copy to be attached in case it is granted)

Validity of Consent to operate Certificate

The validity period for the consent to operate Certificate is decided in accordance with the different categories of the industries. The industries that come under Red Category, which include Health-Care facilities, will have a validity of 5 years. The industries that come under the orange category have ten years of validity, whereas the green category of Industries will have 15 years of validity.

Renewal of Consent to operate Certificate

The industry applying for renewal of a certificate to operate must register within 30 days before the expiry of consent to operate. The application for CTO Certificate has to be submitted via the Online Consent Management and Monitoring System, which is then followed by inspection and scrutinisation of the report. After successful scrutinisation of the report, the renewal is granted.

List of Documents for Renewal of Consent to operate Certificate

• Analysis Report of effluent from Board/Board’s Approved Lab.
• Declaration regarding details of a number of beds & dental chairs installed.
• Compliance Report of previous consent conditions

Conclusion

Consent to operate Certificate is granted to industries when they are ready to operate and have fulfilled the specification mandated by the specific State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committee without delay to provide sufficient time to authorities to conduct an inspection and provide a proper review.