NEWS: The Supreme Court’s Vanashakti judgment reaffirmed that projects requiring Environmental Clearance (EC) cannot legally begin construction or operations without obtaining prior EC.

Prior Environmental Clearance

• Prior EC is mandatory under the EIA Notification, 2006.
• “Violate first, regularise later” cannot become a routine practice.

Earlier Violation Mechanisms

• Fresh cases cannot seek regularisation under the 2017 Notification or 2021 SOP/Office Memorandum.
• These earlier mechanisms are no longer available for fresh applications.

Key Legal Distinction

• Office Memorandum: Cannot override the statutory requirement of prior EC.
• Statutory Notification: Government may potentially create a fresh mechanism under Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Court’s Approach

• SC did not direct the government to create a new regularisation scheme.
• A future mechanism, if introduced, should balance environmental protection and public interest.

Safeguards

• Any future mechanism should be:
• One-time and exceptional
• Based on statutory authority
• Include environmental damage assessment
• Require remediation and environmental compensation
• Impose strict compliance conditions