No blanket amnesty or bar: How SC set ‘public interest’ test for ex-post facto environment clearances

The Supreme Court’s judgment on Wednesday (July 29) striking down the Centre’s 2021 Office Memorandum (OM) that allowed retrospective approval for projects that had already commenced construction without environment clearances (ECs), now closes the door on blanket and open-ended regularisation of such projects. It leaves limited room for government action under statutory authority.The judgment has sought to strike a middle path in its evolving environmental jurisprudence, distinguishing between the source of executive power and the limits of regularisation.The court held that ex-post facto ECs cannot be created through an OM, but recognised that the government may, in exceptional circumstances and in public interest, provide such a mechanism through a statutory notification issued under de