The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned its own six-month-old ruling, with a 2:1 majority, effectively allowing the central government to grant clearance to projects that had begun operations without complying with environmental rules.

On May 16, 2025, a bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan held that no mining or development project could commence without first securing Environmental Clearance (EC).

Court had noted that several projects had already started operations

The court had noted that several projects had already started operations and obtained clearance only later.

Citing this, the earlier judgment had barred the central government from issuing post-facto (after commencement) environmental approvals.

Environmental clearances are issued either by the Ministry o

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