Isha Foundation appears to be an educational institution: Madras High Court in environmental norms breach case

The Madras High Court on Wednesday observed that Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation may qualify as an educational institution, while permitting it to challenge a show-cause notice issued by the Tamil Nadu government alleging breach of environmental norms. [Isha Foundation v. Union of India and Others] .A Bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D KrishnaKumar permitted the Isha Foundation to amend its plea to include a prayer challenging the show-cause notice."Therefore, when this OM has clarified that educational institutions will mean not only schools colleges etc, but also those that deal with mental and moral development, to us it appears that yoga centre built by the petitioner may be included," it said..In November 2021, the State government had issued a show-cause notice and subsequently initiated prosecution against the Foundation on the ground that while carrying out construction work, it had failed to obtain mandatory environmental clearances under the Union government's Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2006. Before the High Court, the Foundation contended that the 2014 Environment Protection Amendment Rules, an extension of the 2006 notification, clarified that educational institutes, industrial sheds, hostels, hospitals etc would be exempt from the requirement.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." "We do not accept their submission that they are an educational institute. Seminary is a divinity school. Is yoga a divinity school? That is a dispute that the trial court has to see," he argued. However, Senior Advocate Satish Parasaran, appearing for the Foundation said 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. .After going through the notification, the Court agreed that the Foundation should qualify as an educational institute. It also took note of the fact that in its show-cause notice, the government had failed to list out any specific irregularities committed by the Foundation."A reading of this Office Memorandum shows that educational institutions defined as schools, seminaries, colleges, universities, training institutes, or other educational establishments including those that deal with one's physical, moral, and mental development," the Court said.However, during the hearing, it was brought to the Court's notice that in October 2020, the Kerala High Court had stayed the Central government's 2014 notification granting exemption to educational institutes.At this point, the Court directed the Centre to clarify whether it could issue a clarification on a notification that had already been stayed by a High Court. It also said that the Centre must find out if the 2020 stay had been vacated.The Court will hear the matter further on November 21..On a previous hearing, the Centre had told the High Court that Isha Foundation could claim an exemption on account of being an institute that promotes education.