Madras High Court reserves verdict on Isha Foundation challenge to show cause notice for alleged environmental norm breaches

The Madras High Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on a petition filed by Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation challenging a show cause notice issued by the Tamil Nadu government on alleged breach of environmental norms [Isha Foundation v. Union of India and Others]..A Bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishnakumar closed the arguments after hearing the Isha Foundation, the Tamil Nadu government, the Central government and an NGO and a party-in-person, who wished to be impleaded as parties to the case..In November 2021, the State government had issued a show cause notice and subsequently initiated prosecution against the Foundation on the ground that while it had carried out construction work, it had failed to obtain the mandatory environmental clearance under the Union government's Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2006.Isha Foundation, however, challenged the State government's action and said that the 2014 Environment Protection Amendment Rules, which were an extension of the 2006 Rules, were added to clarify that educational institutes, industrial sheds, hostels, hospitals etc, were exempt from obtaining environmental clearances for such construction.It said that the 2014 amendment granted retrospective exemption to educational institutes and, therefore, the State government's action was illegal. .Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram argued that the Foundation's claim of being an educational institute remained "disputed." He further said that even if one were to accept that the yoga centres at the Foundation could qualify as educational institutes, even then, such structures came to measure just around 10,000 square metres of the over two lakh square metres of the Foundation premises in Coimbatore. The State government also argued that the 2014 amendment was to be applicable only prospectively. However, Senior Advocate Satish Parasaran argued on behalf of the Foundation that on May 19, 2022, as per an Office Memorandum issued to clarify the 2014 notification, educational institutes were defined as schools, colleges and any other institute that catered to one's "physical, mental, and moral development." Therefore, the Foundation need not have sought prior environmental clearance for carrying out construction work between the years 2006 and 2014 at its premises in Coimbatore district, Parasaran said..On a previous hearing, the Central government had told the High Court that Isha Foundation could claim an exemption on the ground of being an institute that promotes education..Central government tells Madras High Court that Isha Foundation is eligible for exemption from Environmental Clearance