These areafter-the-fact environmental approvalsgranted to projects that began construction, expansion, or operation without acquiring the mandatory prior EC underEIA 2006 rules.
What Was the Vanashakti Ruling (May 16, 2025)?
- The two-judge Bench (Justice A.S. Oka & Justice Ujjal Bhuyan) held that granting retrospective environmental clearances violates theprecautionary principlewhich requires environmental harm to be prevented before it occurs.
- It struck down the2017 MoEFCC notificationand2021 OMs, noting that they enabled regularisation of illegal projects that had bypassed prior environmental approvals.
- The Court said the Centre used“crafty drafting”to sanitise violations, allowing industries to construct first and seek legal cover later, undermining environmental governance.
- It directed the governmentnot to issue any future notificationsor circulars permitting ex post facto ECs, ensuring strict enforcement of the Environment Protection Act.
- The verdict emphasised that retrospective ECs are a“gross illegality”and an“anathema toenvironmental jurisprudence”, weakening constitutional environmental protections.
What Are Ex Post Facto Green Clearances?
- Key Features:
- They regularise projects already in violation of environmental norms, effectively converting an illegal act into a legal one after paying compensatory charges.
- Such approvals involvepenalty-based compliance, including fines and restoration measures, which serve as corrective—not preventive—mechanisms.
- Intended forrare, exceptional situations, they are often misused as routine escape routes for non-compliant developers.
- They are commonly invoked in large infrastructure, mining, industrial, and real-estate projects where delays could cause significant financial losses.
- Critics argue they undermine theprecautionary principle and encourage developers to start projects illegally, knowing they can regularise violations later.
IAS-2026 - OPTIONAL / GEOGRAPHY / PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION / SOCIOLOGY / ANTHROPOLOGY / ORIENTATION ON 03 & 04-10-2025 
