A liberal interpretation of the Environment (Protection) Act in favour of the government's authority to allow some projects to be set up without prior environmental clearance is evident in the Supreme Court’s latest order in the Vanashakti case. Although the three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant quashed the Office Memorandum issued by the union government in 2021 that made it possible to permit projects without prior clearance, it upholds the executive’s power to introduce a limited statutory amnesty scheme for such projects under the EP Act. In effect, the SC viewed one set of precedent judgements allowing post facto clearances as having greater salience over others that took a strict view of requirements and underscored........

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