Supreme Court Overturns Retrospective Environmental Clearances in Landmark Decision
Supreme Court's Ruling on Environmental Clearances
File image of the Supreme Court of India. (Photo: X)
New Delhi, July 29: In a pivotal decision, the Supreme Court has annulled the Central Government's 2021 Office Memorandum, which had established a framework for granting retrospective environmental clearances (ECs) to projects that began operations without prior environmental approval.
A Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, specified that this ruling would apply moving forward, meaning that projects already granted retrospective clearances under the 2021 memorandum will not be impacted.
The Court emphasized that obtaining prior environmental clearance is fundamental to India's environmental governance, asserting that projects should not commence operations before securing necessary approvals.
However, the Court noted that the Centre could, in rare cases and for the greater public good, implement a temporary amnesty scheme through a legitimate statutory notification. It clarified that such a scheme cannot be established via an executive memorandum or serve as a permanent solution for regularizing environmental breaches.
Additionally, the Bench stated that the Supreme Court, under Article 142 of the Constitution, has the authority to grant post-facto environmental clearances in suitable instances where it deems such relief appropriate.
On April 1, the Supreme Court had reserved its judgment on several petitions, including review requests, contesting the issuance of retrospective environmental clearances to projects that were found to have breached environmental regulations.