The Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (Credai) asked the Supreme Court to direct central and state expert appraisal committees to expeditiously evaluate all pending proposals for buildings and construction projects under "general conditions" for granting mandatory environmental clearance (EC).
A Bench led by Justice JB Paridiwala stated it would hear the real estate body's plea with the main petition on the issue on April 23.
The CREDAI's application comes after the apex court, on February 24, stayed a notification by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) that exempted building and construction projects, including industrial sheds, schools, colleges, and hostels with a built-up area up to 150,000 square metres, from obtaining mandatory environmental clearance before starting construction work.
The stay was granted after a PIL filed by Mumbai-based NGO Vanashakti challenged the January 29 notification because it diluted the strict regime governing construction projects. Before the January notification, the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2006 made prior environmental clearance mandatory for all constructions with a built-up area of above 20,000 sq meters.
CREDAI informed the SC that due to the stay order, many projects (pending approval) have come to a standstill, especially in Maharashtra, wherein neither the Central Sectoral Expert Appraisal Committee (Central SEAC) nor the State Level Appraisal Committee (State SEAC) had been appraising the applications and proposals pending before them.
As a result, CREDAI has been left “without any recourse or remedy,” senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and Atmaram NS Nadkarni argued. “This situation has further escalated project costs, strained financial viability, and deterred future investments. This is, in turn, simultaneously affecting housing availability and affordability - particularly for projects aimed at providing affordable housing,” the real estate body stated.
According to CREDAI’s application, it is critical to the real estate industry that the current impasse is resolved, and appraisals commence without any delay. “…it is in the interest of all the stakeholders involved that the Central SEAC be directed to expeditiously commence the appraisal of all pending applications for projects under Item 8(a) and 8(b) of the Schedule to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 2006 Notification that fall within the scope of the General Conditions and are currently pending before the State SEACs,” CREDAI stated.
In August, the National Green Tribunal directed the ministry to issue a necessary notification to clarify the position concerning projects covered under items 8(a) and 8(b) of the schedule to the EIA Notification 2006 and the applicability of "general conditions" to such projects. Items 8(a) and 8(b) deal with building and construction projects and townships or area development projects that require prior EC and are appraised by SEACs and approved by state-level environment impact assessment authorities.
