JUDGMENT :

Hrishikesh Roy, J.

1. Heard Mr. Huzefa Ahmadi, learned senior counsel appearing for the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 595/2021. Mr. Lonkar Nitin representing the Original Applicant before the National Green Tribunal. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, learned Additional Solicitor General of India appears for the Ministry of Environment & Forest.

The Government of Maharashtra and the State Pollution Control Board are represented by Mr. Rahul Chitnis and Mr. Mukesh Verma, learned counsel respectively.

2. These two appeals are filed under Section 22 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (for short “the NGT Act”) assailing the judgment and final order dated 18.1.2021 in the OA No. 83/2019. Under the impugned judgment, the NGT held that further construction cannot be made without environment impact assessment, but protected the constructions already made by the appellant, M/s Sai Baba Sales Pvt. Ltd. (“Project Proponent”) on the basis of the Environmental Clearance (“EC” for short) issued by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (“PCMC” for short) as per the notification dated 9.12.2016. The Original Applicant, on the other hand, is aggrieved by the decision of the NGT to protect the standing construction and limiting the impact of the impugned judgment on further construction to be made by the project proponent.

3. The main issue that arises for consideration in these matters is whether the Project Proponent herein possesses a validly granted Environmental Clearance (EC) under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification dated 14.9.2006. The 2006 EIA notification provided that the projects above 20,000 sq. meter and below 1,50,000 sq. meter should obtain an EC from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

4. For deciding the issue, the necessary facts in brief are that the Project Proponent initially conceived a project of 15,040 sq. mtrs. (below the EC threshold limit of 20,000 sq. mtrs.) and it approached the PCMC for a lay out order which was a prerequisite, to obtain an EC from the SEIAA of the MoEFCC. The application was processed and the Building Permission Department of the PCMC granted the commencement certificate to the Project Proponent for an area of 15,040 sq. mtrs. and approved the plan under the sanction letter dated 14.5.2013. With such permission, the Project Proponent could construct the permitted structures, and since the built up area was less than the threshold limit of 20000 sq. mtrs., the EC permission was not needed for the intended construction.

5. The Project Proponent builder then applied and was granted additional FSI as it intended to expand the project to one with built up area of 49,012 sq. mtrs. and for this they approached the PCMC for a lay out order, which as noted earlier was essential to obtain an EC from the SEIAA of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The required approval was issued by the Corporation on 28.11.2016.

6. Under the Ministry’s notification dated 9.12.2016, the EIA regime was altered to indicate that the EC could be obtained from the Environmental Cell of a local authority, such as the PCMC. The State of Maharashtra opted for the new regime and adopted the environmental condition stipulated in the MoEFCC notification dated 9.12.2016. This was followed by the communication of the MoEFCC on 7.7.2017 which clarified that separate environmental clearance is not required for projects upto 1,50,000 sq. mtrs. built up area in respect of municipal corporations in Pune and Konkan division.

7. The Project Proponent then filed an application for EC under the 2016 notification which was considered by the Environmental Cell of the PCMC which appraised the project, as contemplated in the notification dated 9.12.2016. The necessary permission for construction to the builder was issued on 28.11.2017, stipulating the environmental conditions for buildings and constructions and th