ECONOMY
Supreme Court recalls verdict barring retrospective green clearance for projects
- IBJ Bureau
- Nov 19, 2025
A split Supreme Court has recalled one of its own judgments by 2:1 majority that had allowed post-facto environmental clearance to infrastructure projects. The court has ruled that demolishing errant structures would amount to “throwing the valuable public resources in dustbin”.
Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran have passed the majority verdict, boosting the case for the Centre and various real estate companies. But Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan’s dissenting judgment has observed that “the deadly Delhi smog reminds us every day about the hazards of environmental pollution”.
Justice Bhuyan was a part of a two-judge bench headed by (retired) Justice A S Oka that had passed the now-recalled May-16 verdict against a 2017 Central government notification, allowing retrospective environment clearances. The government notification had permitted environmental clearance for projects after they had come up. In effect, it had amounted to regularising projects that had violated the law by not seeking prior environmental clearance.
The latest majority judgment upholds review petitions moved by a developers’ group, a Central PSU and a State government against the May-16 verdict. Review petitions have historically had less than 0.1 per cent success at the top court.
Critics argue that retrospective approvals – even if they came with stiff penalties, as emphasised by the apex court – amounts to encouraging and regularising violations of law.
Chief Justice Gavai, who authored the main judgment, refers to several earlier Supreme Court judgments.
“I am in complete agreement with the aforesaid observations of this court in the case of Bindu Kapurea… that demolition of the projects already completed would rather than being in public interest would result in throwing the valuable public resources in dustbin,” he has said.
Environmentalists argue that the 2017 notification runs counter to Sections 6 and 25 of the Environment Protection Act and the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2006 Rules formulated by the Central government.
These prohibit or restrict certain industries, processes and operations in specific areas. Crucially, they make environmental clearance mandatory before a project starts.
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