Centre to resume appraising post-facto green clearance cases after Supreme Court ruling

The Union Environment Ministry has announced the resumption of processing post-facto environmental clearance (EC) proposals, two months after the Supreme Court permitted it to do so. Post-facto environmental clearances are provided for projects that have already begun work, expanded, or modernised without seeking prior approval.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change directed central and state-level expert bodies to process these proposals, excluding any new applications. The directive comes after the Supreme Court's July 29 judgment in the Vanashakti vs Union of India case, which quashed the 2021 Office Memorandum and ordered pending applications to be taken to their logical conclusion while maintaining the legality of approved projects.