Centre's environmental approval not needed for constructions of 20,000 and 1,50,000 square metres: SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a green light to stalled construction activities related to housing, industrial sheds, schools, colleges, universities and hostels with covered area between 20,000 and 1,50,000 square metres.

It ruled that such projects could go ahead with the state environmental authority's nod, exempting them from the lengthy process of securing environmental clearance from the Centre.

The apex court, on February 24, had ex parte stayed the January 29 central notification on environmental clearance norms for building and construction projects. This was based on a plea by NGO Vanashakti, which alleged that dilutions in norms would damage nature and forests, stalling thousands of projects across the country.


A bench of CJI B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran upheld the environment ministry's notification and said there is no need of central environmental for these categories of constructions.

The Supreme Court quoted additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, who said the Centre did not have wherewithal to carry out environment scrutiny of projects in states.

The bench, however, refused total exemption from environmental scrutiny to industrial sheds, schools, colleges, universities and hostels in the January 29 notification of the environment and forest ministry. SC said these could be constructed after clearance from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).

The bench gave clarity over which authority, State or Centre, need to grant permission to projects located in eco-sensitive areas, wildlife protected areas, critically and severely polluted areas (CPA/SPA) and those near inter-state boundaries.

SC upheld the notification granting the power to the state.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Godrej's real estate arm, said the regime exempting such projects from central nod has been in place since 2006 and that the January 29 notification was nothing new.

He was supported by senior advocate Atmaram Nadkarni, who appeared for CREDAI, the apex body of private real estate developers.

CJI Gavai and Justice Chandran said, "No country can progress without development. Duty to protect the environment and ecology is paramount, but development activities cannot be stalled altogether."

Bhati informed the bench that because of the ex parte stay granted by the SC bench led by Justice A S Oka on February 24, more than thousand construction projects across the country in the educational and industrial sector were stopped with applications seeking clearance are piling up before SEIAA. Maharashtra alone havs more than 700 such pending applications.

(With TOI inputs)