What happened
The Supreme Court issued guidance on regularisation of environmental clearances. The Supreme Court avoided an outright blanket approach that would automatically validate clearance irregularities.
Supreme Court guidance provides a framework for when regularisation may be considered acceptable. The Supreme Court also made clear that the directions are meant to guide future cases, not to grant automatic validation.
Background and earlier position
Environmental clearance is a regulatory permission granted through an environmental appraisal process so that projects can proceed only after meeting specified environmental requirements. When environmental clearance is questioned, courts and regulators face a practical and legal tension between strict enforcement and outcomes like regularisation.
In disputes about regularisation, an outright blanket validation approach would treat all past cases as automatically acceptable. Supreme Court guidance rejects that blanket route and focuses on structured, case-based acceptability.
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