Supreme Court Blocks Retrospective Environmental Clearances

Over the past five years, we have watched in dismay as the statutory architecture of environmental laws in India has been undermined, and the principles of jurisprudence that were painstakingly evolved over four decades since the Bhopal Gas leak tragedy in 1984 have been eroded. On his final day as Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Abhay S Oka along with Justice Ujjal Bhuyan delivered a judgement which is, it is hoped, an important step towards stemming this decline.

The judgement makes a detailed analysis of constitutional and statutory law, and judicial precedents on the issue of ex post facto or retrospective environmental clearances (ECs), and not only strikes down circulars allowing this practice, but also prohibits the Centre from issuing such circulars in future.

On March 23, 2020, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) issued the Draft Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2020 (Draft EIA 2020) in an effort to replace the EIA Notification, 2006. This Draft met with stiff opposition from environmental activists, civil society and grassroots organisations. A key objection was against…

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