New Delhi, July 29 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the Central Government can allow post-facto environmental clearances (ECs) only by issuing a valid legal notification under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It cannot grant such clearances through a simple administrative office memorandum.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi, and Vipul Pancholi accordingly quashed the union government's 2021 Office Memorandum (OM), which had established a mechanism for granting environmental clearances to projects that commenced operations without obtaining prior EC.
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