After mining curb, post-facto forest clearances next?

THE SC STAY IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE GOVT CONTINUES TO GRANT EX POST-FACTO CLEARANCES IN FOREST MATTERS

- Jayashree Nandi

The Supreme Court's January 2 order staying two office memos of the environment ministry that allow post-facto clearance of mining projects that did not have the required environmental clearance when they commenced work has raised questions about the status of these operations, and also whether the top court could adopt a similar approach while dealing with post-facto forest clearances.

The January 2022 and July 2021 memos detailing the standard operating procedure for handling of projects in violation of the Environment Impact Assessment Act 2006, were aimed at regularising several projects that had broken the law, started project work without clearance or expanded their project without an environmental nod. The goal was to expeditiously get violators under the regulatory regime, according to the memo.

In the memos, the ministry also laid out penalties for various categories of such violations, and remediation measures where needed. Vanashakti, an NGO based in Mumbai moved SC in 2022 against the SOP which goes against the very principle of prior environmental clearance.

"The petitioner was constrained to directly approach SC as the Impugned SOP dated 07.07.21 was stayed by the Madras HC, however Hon'ble SC in Electrosteel Vs Union of India, held that the interim stay granted by the Madras HC vide Order dated 15.07.2021 would have no application in territories beyond the territorial jurisdiction of Madras High Court," Vanashakti said in a statement. In 2022, the ministry issued another OM stating that the Madras high court order was not applicable to the entire country but only to the jurisdictional areas of Madras High Court.