The Supreme Court has stayed the operation and implementation of a notification issued by the Union of India on January 29, granting exemption to certain projects from obtaining mandatory environmental clearance under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), 2006.
The Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan further stayed an Office Memorandum dated January 30, 2025 (Annexure P-25) in this regard.
It also issued notice returnable on March 28, 2025, on a PIL filed by NGO Vanashakti.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had issued a notification on January 29, exempting industrial sheds, schools, colleges and hostels with a built-up area of up to 150,000 square metres from obtaining prior environmental clearance under the 2006 Act.
All building and construction projects were required to obtain mandatory prior clearance for all construction projects exceeding 20,000 square metres of built-up area under Schedule 8 of the EIA, 2006.
Filed through Advocate Vanshdeep Dalmia, the PIL contended that the notification dilutes the stringent environmental clearance regime.
The PIL further challenged an Office Memorandum dated January 30, 2025 under which the meaning of the expressions ‘educational institutions’ and ‘industrial sheds’ was expanded for the purposes of the impugned notification. It now included private technical institutions, professional academies and Universities, along with warehouses, industrial sheds housing machinery and/or raw material, excluding upto a built up area of 1,50,000 sq mt from the requirement of a prior EC.
The petitioner contended that this was the fourth attempt by the Union of India to provide exemptions for building and construction projects. Similar attempts were made in 2014, 2016, and 2018, which were either quashed or stayed by courts.
The Counsel appearing for the petitioner contended that the exemption would impact the appraisal process of projects in eco-sensitive areas, protected areas under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, critically and severely polluted areas, and those near interstate boundaries.
He further submitted that the notification violated the Environment Protection Rules, 1986, as it did not specify reasons as required under Rule 5.
The removal of the EIA process would have severe environmental consequences, potentially leading to unregulated construction activities with significant environmental harm, warned the petition.
It further submitted that the notification contravened the precautionary principle, sustainable development, and the principle of non regression under the environmental jurisprudence in India.