Supreme Court Stays Centre's Notification Exempting Certain Construction Projects From Environmental Clearance

The Supreme Court on Monday (February 24) stayed the central government's notification exempting certain building and construction projects from mandatory prior environmental clearance. A bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice returnable on March 28, 2025 in a PIL filed by NGO Vanashakti challenging the notification. The court stated in its order, “In the meanwhile, there will be stay of operation and implementation of the impugned Notification dated 29th January, 2025 (Annexure P-24) as well as Office Memorandum dated 30th January, 2025 (Annexure P-25).” The notification by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) exempts 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 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), 2006. Prior to this, under the existing regime for grant of Environmental Clearances for Building and Construction projects under Schedule 8 of the EIA, 2006, the requirement was of mandatory prior clearance for all construction projects exceeding 20,000 square metres of built-up area. The PIL, filed through advocate Vanshdeep Dalmia, argues that the impugned notification dilutes the stringent environmental clearance regime. The PIL also challenges 2006 an Office Memorandum dated January 30, 2025 under which the meaning of the expressions 'educational institutions' and 'industrial sheds' has been expanded for the purposes of the impugned notification, and now includes private technical institutions, professional academies, Universities etc. along with Warehouses, industrial sheds housing machinery and/or raw material, which also stand excluded upto a built up area of 1,50,000 sq m from the requirement of a prior EC. As per the petition, this is the fourth attempt by the Centre to provide exemptions for building and construction projects. Similar attempts were made in 2014, 2016, and 2018, but they were quashed or stayed by courts. The petition argues 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. It has also contended that the notification violates the Environment Protection Rules, 1986, as it did not specify reasons as required under Rule 5. The petition claims that the removal of the EIA process would have severe environmental consequences, potentially leading to unregulated construction activities with significant environmental harm. The NGO has also argued that the notification contravenes the precautionary principle, sustainable development, and the principle of non regression under the environmental jurisprudence in India. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan along with Advocate Vanshdeep Dalmia represented the petitioner. Case no. – Writ Petition (Civil) No. 166/2025 Case Title – Vanashakti v. Union of IndiaClick Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Stays Centre's Notification Exempting Certain Construction Projects From Environmental Clearance

Amisha Shrivastava

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