Bench says 2017 notification illegal, also sets aside 2021 memorandum

Bench says 2017 notification illegal, also sets aside 2021 memorandum

- ANANTHAKRISHNAN G & NIKHIL GHANEKAR

UNDERLINING THAT ENVIRONMENT conservation is key to development, the Supreme Court Friday held as illegal and struck down a 2017 notification that allowed grant of environmental clearance (EC) for projects ex-post facto i.e., after they started. It also struck down the 2021 Office Memorandum (OM) issued in pursuance of this.

A bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan also restrained the Centre from issuing circulars/orders/OMs/notifications providing for grant of ex-post facto EC or for regularising acts done in contravention of the 2006 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification.

The Supreme Court, however, clarified the ECs already granted till date under the 2017 notification and the 2021 OM "shall...remain unaffected."

By issuing the 2017 notification, the environment ministry had offered a one-time amnesty window of sorts and allowed approvals for projects where work had commenced without obtaining prior EC under the 2006 EIA notification.

The 2017 amnesty was applicable for six months between March and September 2017. In 2021, citing compliance of a National Green Tribunal order, the Ministry issued an OM spelling out a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) "for dealing with violation cases".