The Supreme Court has struck down a 2021 Office Memorandum that allowed ex post facto environmental clearances for infrastructure projects. The court said the memorandum would be quashed with prospective effect, marking an important development in the legal treatment of post-facto approvals.
At the same time, the court upheld the Central government’s authority to design limited amnesty schemes. That means while the specific 2021 OM cannot continue in its current form, the Centre is not barred from creating narrowly framed measures to deal with certain categories of violations or pending cases.
The ruling draws a distinction between a broad policy that permits projects to seek environmental clearance after the fact and a more restricted amnesty approach crafted by the government. In effect, the judgment appears to reject a general route for regularising projects through post-facto approval while still recognising some room for executive action under defined conditions.
The decision is likely to be closely watched by infrastructure developers, regulators and environmental stakeholders. It reshapes how environmental clearance disputes may be handled going forward, while keeping the door open for carefully limited relief measures from the Centre.
