Vanashakti vs Union of India - 2026 Supreme(SC) 834

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2026 Supreme(SC) 834

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
SURYA KANT, CJI., JOYMALYA BAGCHI, VIPUL M. PANCHOLI, JJ.
Vanashakti – Petitioner
Versus
Union of India – Respondent
Writ Petition (C) No. 1394 of 2023 With Writ Petition (C) No.118/2019 AND Writ Petition (C) No.115/2024 SLP (C) No.8187/2025 Civil Appeal Nos.381-382/2025 Diary No.32452/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.38374/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.41575/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.42533/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.45781/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.46181/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.46353/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.46817/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.46844/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.46855/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.47015/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.47366/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.47388/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.47856/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.47865/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.48098/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.48100/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.48359/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.48761/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.48909/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.49260/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.49463/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.49776/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.49811/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.49898/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.50416/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.52650/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.52763/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.52787/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.52852/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.54026/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.54031/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.54342/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.54344/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.54361/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023, in Writ Petition (C) No.118/2019, in Writ Petition (C) No.115/2024 Diary No.54363/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.54390/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.55328/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.55954/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.57022/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.57372/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 Diary No.58246/2025 Diary No.61358/2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023 MA No.1382 of 2025 in Writ Petition (C) No.1394/2023
Decided On : 29-07-2026

Advocates appeared:
For the Petitioner(s):Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. Brijender Chahar, A.S.G. Mr. Pawanshree Agrawal, AOR Ms. Kamana Divya Sree, Adv. Ms. Kriti Jain, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Sr. Adv. Ms. Eisha Krishn, Adv. Ms. Mansi Bachani, Adv. Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Anubhav Anand, Adv. Mr. Surya Gupta, Adv. Ms. Fizza Zaidi, Adv. Ms. Gitanjali Sanyal, Adv. Ms. Satvika Krishnan, Adv. Ms. Anukriti Bajpai, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Upadhyay, Adv. Ms. Madhavi Divan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Nimish Arjaria, Adv. Mr. D. Bharat Kumar, Adv. Mr. P.D.V. Srikar, Adv. Ms. Shireesha Sharma, Adv. Mr. Aman Shukla, Adv. Mr. Sawan Datta, Adv. Ms. Yatika Gupta, Adv. Ms. Priyanshi Goel, Adv. Mr. Bhoumik Nayyar, Adv. Mr. Shreyash Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Tilak Vij, Adv. Ms. Aishani Narayan, Adv. Mr. Umesh Kumar Yadav, Adv. Mr. M. Chandrakanth Reddy, Adv. Mr. Thandra Sai Yeshwant Goud, Adv. Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR Mr. Eresh Roshan Swain, Adv. Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Vanshdeep Dalmia, AOR Ms. Natasha Dalmia, Adv. Ms. Anisha Jain, Adv. Ms. Shambhavi Singh, Adv. Ms. Prerna Cheema, Adv. Mr. Shourya Dasgupta, Adv. Ms. Trisha Chandran, Adv. Mr. Tushar Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. A.R. Takkar, Sr. Adv. Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR Mrs. Shriya Takkar, Adv. Mr. Manan Takkar, Adv. Ms. Shriya Takkar, Adv. Mrs. Santhanalakshmi, Adv. Ms. Aastha Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR Mr. Harish Vasudevan, Adv. Ms. Tara Elizabeth Kurien, Adv. Ms. Anchal Kanthed, Adv. Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Arshit Anand, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Singh, Adv. Ms. Vidisha Swarup, Adv. Ms. Manavi Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Ritesh Pattnaik, Adv. Ms. Ameesha Malhotra, Adv. Mr. Naman Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Dwevanshi, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Shukla Samit Dilip, Adv. Mr. Kunal Vajani, Adv. Ms. Saakshi Saboo, Adv. Ms. Vaibhavi Bhalerao, Adv. For M/s Trilegal Advocates On Record, AOR Mr. Ninad Laud, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Kulkarni, Adv. Ms. Ishani Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Dcosta Ivo Manuel Simon, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. Ujjawal Kumar Rai, Adv. Ms. Isha Baloni, Adv. Mr. Sudhanshu Pathak, Adv. Mr. Rishabh Chaudhary, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Singh, Adv. Ms. Shrijeta Pratik, Adv. Ms. Pragya Prachi Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prabhat Sejwar, Adv. Mr. Nirav R. Mishra, Adv. Mr. Pradhuman Gohil, Adv. Mrs. Taruna Singh Gohil, AOR Mr. Rushabh N. Kapadia, Adv. Ms. Taniya Bansal, Adv. Mr. Pulkit Khanduja, Adv. Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR Mr. Ishaan George, AOR Mr. Rajnikant Reddy, A.A.G. Ms. Devina Sehgal, AOR Mr. Srikanth Varma Mudunuru, Adv. Mr. Kartikey Bhatt, AOR Mr. Kunal Vajani, Adv. Mr. Sahil Monga, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Arijit Bardhan, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Singh, AOR Ms. Shivangi Pradhan, Adv. Mr. Kush Chaturvedi, AOR Mr. Syed Faraz Alam, Adv. Ms. Ayesha Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Pramothesh Mukherjee, Adv. Ms. Sonali Kumari, Adv. Ms. Ishita Singh Tomar, Adv. Mr. Nishanth Patil, AOR Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR M/S. K Ashar & Co., AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Mr. Anand Varma, AOR Ms. Apoorva Pandey, Adv. Mr. Polavarapu Sai Charan, Adv. Mr. Naveen Hegde , AOR Mr. Amol Chitale, Adv. Mr. Pralhad Paranjape, Adv. Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR Ms. Tirtha Pawar, Adv. Mr. Yuvraj Kashyap, Adv.
For the Respondent(s):Mr. R. Venkataramani, Attorney General for India Mr. K. Raghavacharyulu, Adv. Mr. Kailash Pandey, Adv. Mr. Ranjeet Singh, AOR Mr. Krishna Yadav, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Adv. Ms. Yamika Khanna, Adv. Mr. Chitvan Singhal, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Mr. Ketan Joshi, Adv. Mr. Tapesh Kumar Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Prabhat Ranjan Raj, AOR Mr. Shashwat Anand, Adv. Mr. Anil Kumar, Adv. Mr. Kshitiz S R, Adv. Mr. Gunjesh Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Manoneet Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kumar Gupta, Adv. Mr. Prakash Kumar Mangalam, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Sr. Adv. Ms. Eisha Krishn, Adv. Ms. Mansi Bachani, Adv. Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Anubhav Anand, Adv. Mr. Surya Gupta, Adv. Ms. Fizza Zaidi, Adv. Ms. Gitanjali Sanyal, Adv. Ms. Satvika Krishnan, Adv. Ms. Anukriti Bajpai, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. Devadatt Kamat, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rohit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Nishanth Patil, AOR Mr. Arijit Dey, Adv. Ms. Bhumi Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Gupta, Adv. Mr. Awanish Gupta, Adv. Ms. Harshita Jain, Adv. Mr. Jatin Lalwani, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Purohit, Adv. Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. Brijender Chahar, A.S.G. Mr. Pawanshree Agrawal, AOR Ms. Kamana Divya Sree, Adv. Ms. Kriti Jain, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, ASG Ms. Sonali Jain, Adv. Ms. Bhagyashree Raj, Adv. Mr. Ketan Paul, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Aggarwal, Adv. Mr. Nithin Chowdary P., Adv. Mr. Balbir Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Shukla Samit Dilip, Adv. Ms. Saakshi Saboo, Adv. Mr. Naman Tandon, Adv. Ms. Vaibhavi Bhalerao, Adv. M/s Trilegal Advocates On Record, AOR Mr. R. Verdrajan, Sr.Adv. Mr. Dinesh Kumar Mudgal, Adv. Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anupam Kumar, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Varun Varma, Adv. Mr. Naveen Hegde, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Ms. Sushmita Pandey, Adv. Ms. Arunima Das, Adv. Mr. Ashwin Arun Hirulkar, Adv. Ms. Kunika Bansal, Adv. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Satyajit A. Desai, Adv. Ms. Anagha S. Desai, AOR Mr. Sachin Singh, Adv. Mr. Pratik Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Shashank Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Arshit Anand, Adv. Ms. Vidisha Swarup, Adv. Mr. Ritesh Pattnaik, Adv. Mr. Naman Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Ameesha Malhotra, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Pallav Mongia, AOR Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Arshit Anand, Adv. Ms. Vidisha Swarup, Adv. Mr. Ritesh Pattnaik, Adv. Mr. Naman Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Ameesha Malhotra, Adv. Mr. E.C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Satya Kam Sharma, AOR Mr. Karthik S.D., AOR Mr. Vinay Navare, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Rucha Pravin Mandlik, Adv. Mrs. Rucha Praveen Mandlik, Adv. For M/S. S-legal Associates, AOR Mr. Anand Varma, AOR Ms. Apoorva Pandey, Adv. Mr. Polavarapu Sai Charan, Adv. Mr. Anil Kumar Verma, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mr. Sandeep Sudhakar Deshmukh, AOR Mr. Nishant Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ankur Savadikar, Adv. Mr. Kartik Sharma, Adv. Mr. T.V.S. Raghavendra Sreyas, AOR Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Mr. Vanshdeep Dalmia, AOR Ms. Manisha Ambwani, AOR Ms. Anshula Vijay Kumar Grover, AOR Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Aditya Soni, AOR Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Adithya Nair, Adv. Mr. Yashovardhan Singh, Adv. Ms. Charanya Lakshmikumaran, AOR Mr. L Badri Narayanan, Adv. Mr. Yogendra Aldak, Adv. Ms. Tamanna Sharma, Adv. Ms. Neha Choudhary, Adv. Ms. Nitum Jain, Adv. Ms. Medha Sinha, Adv. Mr. Swastik Mishra, Adv. Mr. Naveen Hegde, AOR Ms. Nandini Gore, Adv. Ms. Sonia Nigam, Adv. Mr. Akhil Abraham Roy, Adv. Mr. Vedant Choudhary, Adv. For M/S. Karanjawala & Co., AOR Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Srishti Agnihotri, AOR Ms. Tara Elizabeth Kurien, Adv. Ms. Anchal Kanthed, Adv. Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR Mr. Hirday Virdi, Adv. Mr. Anuj Bhandari, AOR M/S. K Ashar & Co., AOR Mr. Vipul Ganda, Sr. Adv. Mr. Kunal Cheema, AOR Mr. Ishan Upadhaya, Adv. Ms. Sakshi Panwar, Adv. Mr. Shubham Chandankhede, Adv. Mr. Rushabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Raghav Deshpande, Adv. Mr. Siddhant Kohli, Adv. Mr. Kaustabh Bhattacharjee, Adv. Ms. Garima Jain, AOR

JUDGMENT

Joymalya Bagchi, J.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
SUBMISSIONS
VANASHAKTI-I AND THE REVIEW
QUESTIONS FOR DETERMINATION
ANALYSIS
I.	The Prior Environment Clearance Regime and its Development
II.	Consequence of Breach and the Scope for Regularisation
III.	Ex post facto clearance in the decisions of this Court
IV.	The 2017 Notification
V.	The 2021 Office Memorandum
VI.	Fate of ECs Already Granted and Applications Pending Consideration
CONCLUSION

1. Delay condoned. Permission to file MAs is granted.

INTRODUCTION

2. In an anthropocentric world where man shapes nature to meet his wants, this Bench is entrusted with the solemn duty to strike a balance between an existential right of all living beings both present and future to a pollution-free environment and an aspirational right to development of a sixth of the world’s population. To discharge such onerous responsibility, we need to examine the issue through the prism of eco-centric proportionality which is best articulated in the Gandhian vision:

“The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.”

3. Facts leading up to the present dispute are as follows:

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(ii) The matters first came up for hearing before a two-Judge Bench of this Court. The Bench vide interim order dated 02.01.2024 stayed the operation of the 2021 OM.¹¹[Interim order dated 02.01.2024 was passed in W.P.(C) No

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2026 Supreme(SC) 834

Cases Referred (40)