HANUMAN LAXMAN AROSKAR V. UNION OF INDIA (2019) 15 SCC 401
HANUMAN LAXMAN AROSKAR V. UNION OF INDIA (2019) 15 SCC 401
FACTS AND CASE HISTORY
In this case, the Supreme Court of India suspended the environmental clearance for an airport in the State of Goa on March 29, 2019, and directed the administration to reconsider the decision. The approval was brought before the Supreme Court by petitioners, citizen Hanuman Laxman Aroskar and the NGO Federation of Rainbow Warriors. The Court revoked the airport’s regulatory compliance certificate citing the government’s failure to consider environmental concerns that were critical to the environmental evaluation procedure. The court reasoned that it was essential to the resolution of this lawsuit as a driver for sustainable development within a rule of law framework. The Court went on to say that the Paris Agreement and India’s Nationally Determined Commitment to the Paris Agreement were both important aspects of India’s environmental rule of law and that the government had to strike a proper balance between environmental concerns and airport development goals.
ISSUES
- Whether the Government of India appropriately examined environmental impacts when it approved a new airport?
JUDGEMENT
The Supreme Court removed its suspension of the environmental clearance on January 16, 2020, after new statements from the airport project stakeholders, enabling the airport project to proceed. The government enforced additional environmental requirements on the project in response to the additional environmental impact evidence supplied, which included a commitment to establish the airport a “zero-carbon airport operation.” The court issued that the government has appropriately addressed concerns raised in the court’s 2019 ruling. The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute was also established to conform with the government’s environmental criteria, and the project developers were required to pay the charges of monitoring.