India's EIA: Court Halts Retrospective Project Approvals

The Supreme Court recently ruled against the Centre's 2021 Office Memorandum, which had permitted retrospective environmental clearances for projects. This decision halts the open-ended regularization of developments that began without prior approvals. The court clarified that while ex-post facto clearances cannot be established through an Office Memorandum, a limited mechanism might be possible through statutory notification under exceptional, public interest circumstances.

The judgment revises the court's previous stance, allowing for narrowly tailored amnesty schemes if justified by "supervening public interest." This contrasts with the March 2017 notification, which provided a one-time six-month amnesty, a window now considered expired. The court emphasized a distinction between a limited, public-interest-based statutory amnesty and administrative mechanisms allowing routine regularization of environmental violations.

India's Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) process, designed to evaluate potential environmental effects of proposed projects, has evolved significantly. Its origins trace back to the US in 1969, with India beginning its impact assessment of river valley projects in 1978-79. The EIA became mandatory under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, with the first EIA norms notified in 1994, establishing a legal framework for resource utilization and pollution regulation.