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Tata Housing Development Company Limited v. Aalok Jagga & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 1203Decided 5 Nov 2019
Civil Appeal Nos. 8398-8399 of 2019
Justice Arun Mishra · Justice M.R. Shah · Justice B.R. Gavai

Background

Tata Housing proposed a large residential project, "Camelot," near Kansal village in Punjab, close to the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary and within the catchment area of Sukhna Lake near Chandigarh. A public-spirited litigant challenged the project's environmental clearance and permissions before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which quashed the clearance after finding the project only about 123 metres from the sanctuary boundary, well short of what the Court found permissible. Tata Housing appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined site inspection reports confirming the project's proximity (123-183 metres) to the wildlife sanctuary and found it fell within the ecologically sensitive buffer. Invoking the doctrine of sustainable development, the public trust doctrine, and the polluter-pays principle drawn from a long line of precedent, the Court held that the State of Punjab had failed to protect the eco-sensitive zone, noting pointedly that the project's beneficiaries were to include a large number of sitting MLAs. It held that no such high-rise project could be permitted so close to a wildlife sanctuary, quashed the entire environmental clearance process, and dismissed the appeals.

Lesson Learnt

Proximity to a protected wildlife sanctuary or similar eco-sensitive area can override an otherwise-granted government clearance, and courts will scrutinize such clearances especially closely when conflicts of interest (such as politically-connected beneficiaries) are apparent.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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