SC withdraws order staying environmental clearance, Justice Bhuyan dissents

News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court, which had barred the Centre from granting retrospective environmental clearance (EC) to projects violating environmental norms, was overturned by a 2:1 majority on Tuesday.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai, Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan and Justice K Vinod Chandran delivered three separate verdicts on around 40 review and revision petitions filed against the Vanashakti verdict.

had stopped granting retrospective environmental clearance

A bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjwal Bhuyan, in its May 16 verdict, had restrained the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOFCC) and the authorities concerned from granting retrospective environmental clearance to projects violating environmental norms.

Chief Justice Gavai and Justice Chandran recalled the May 16 order and placed the matter before an appropriate bench for fresh consideration.

'My decision has been criticised by my brother Justice Bhuyan'

"If the approval is not reviewed, public projects worth Rs 20,000 crore will have to be demolished. In my judgment, I have allowed it to be withdrawn. My judgment has been criticised by my brother Justice Bhuyan," the Chief Justice said.

Justice Bhuyan strongly disagreed, stating that retrospective clearances are unknown in environmental law. He said, "There is no concept of retrospective environmental clearance in environmental law" and called the idea "a curse on environmental jurisprudence, a curse consigned to evil."

The Chief Justice said the court found that the plan in the 2013 notification and the 2021 office memorandum was to allow grant of environmental clearance on imposition of heavy penalty.

The detailed judgment is awaited. On October 9, a bench headed by the Chief Justice reserved its verdict after hearing arguments from several senior lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for various industrial and infrastructure entities and government bodies, and were in favor of reviewing or modifying the impugned judgment.

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