HC order exempting Jaggi Vasudev’s foundation from environmental clearance upheld by SC
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to intervene in a Madras High Court ruling that revoked a show-cause notice given to the Isha Foundation, which is led by preacher Jaggi Vasudev, for constructing on its campus in Coimbatore without seeking environmental approval.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh dismissed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's objection to the ruling and ordered that no coercive measures be used in relation to the Isha Yoga and Meditation Center's construction.
However, the bench made it clear that the judgement shouldn't be interpreted as a precedent for regularising illegal constructions.
The show-cause notice was sent out on November 19, 2021, by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. It aimed to prosecute the foundation for erecting many structures in the Coimbatore district's foothills of Velliangiri between 2006 and 2014 without first seeking environmental clearance.
In January 2022, the Isha Foundation filed a lawsuit against the board's notification in the High Court, claiming that educational institutions were granted a retroactive exemption under the 2014 Environment Protection Amendment Rules. Additionally, it made the case that since its yoga centre promotes both physical and mental well-being, it ought to be classified as an educational institution, Scroll.in
The High Court quashed the notice in December 2022, ruling that the foundation was free from obtaining environmental approval for new projects since it qualified as an educational institution.
According to Bar and Bench, the Supreme Court recorded the Isha Foundation's statement on Friday that it would abide by the laws.
“If there is any need for expansion in future, let permission be sought from competent authority,” said the court.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Board was criticised by the top court on February 14 for delaying its appeal against the High Court ruling by two years.
“What prevented authorities from approaching this court in time?” the Supreme Court had asked the board. “When [the] state comes belatedly, we become suspicious.”
The development took place in Ikkarai Pooluvampatti hamlet, near the Velliangiri hills in Coimbatore's Western Ghats, which also houses the foundation's Isha Yoga Centre. The village is notified by the Tamil Nadu government's Hill Area Conservation Authority, which was established in 1991 to preserve hill areas from undue commercialisation.
During an inspection in November 2012, the Coimbatore Town and Country Planning Department discovered that 60 buildings related to the foundation were built without prior consent. There were 34 other structures under development at the time.