Tuesday, December
14, 2021 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice in a petition
challenging an office memorandum issued by the Union Ministry of Environment,
Forests and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) prescribing a procedure for granting
retrospective environmental clearance to projects (Nishtha
Shukla v. Union of India).
The Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and
Justice Jyoti Singh gave
the Central government time till March 29 to file its response.
The petition, filed by student Nishtha Shukla through Advocates
Chirag Jain and Shobhit Shukla, argued that the communication dated July 7,
2021 was passed by the Ministry without jurisdiction, in contravention of the
law as established under Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 1994
and EIA Notification 2006. The petition said that the office memo is ultra
vires the powers of the government under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
and also undermines the rights of people under Articles 21 and 48-A of the
Constitution.
Interestingly the communication had earlier been challenged
before the Madurai bench of Madras High Court which had stayed it in July.
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