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Ministry Waives Validity Period for Stalled Infrastructure Projects
7 Nov
Summary
- Ministry waives time lost in litigation from environmental clearance validity
- Great Nicobar and Uttarakhand hydropower projects likely to benefit
- Environmentalists warn of severe ramifications in fragile ecosystems
In a significant move, the Indian environment ministry has decided to waive the period during which infrastructure projects were stalled due to legal proceedings from the validity of their environmental clearances (ECs). This decision, announced in an office memorandum dated October 30, 2025, is expected to benefit several major projects that have faced court cases, including the Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project and hydropower projects in Uttarakhand.
The ministry acknowledged that legal proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal or courts often take significant time to resolve, leading to the expiration of ECs or a reduced duration for project implementation. To address this, the ministry has clarified that the time lost in such litigation will be treated as a "zero period" for calculating the validity of the ECs.
However, environmentalists have raised concerns about this decision. Mallika Bhanot, an environmentalist and member of Ganga Ahvaan, warned that extending clearances beyond their expiration date could have severe ramifications, especially in fragile ecosystems like the Himalayas. She cited the example of the Uttarakhand hydropower projects, where the Supreme Court has stayed 24 projects for over a decade, during which time the topography and ecology have significantly changed.
Debadityo Sinha, lead for climate and ecosystems at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, also criticized the move, stating that an office memorandum cannot override the statutory requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification 2006, which sets the validity period for ECs. He warned that this decision could be misused by project proponents whose ECs have been previously quashed or stayed by the courts for environmental violations.
