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The show cause notice by TNPCB stated that the foundation built the buildings in the foothills of Velliangiri in the Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu without obtaining environmental clearance from the concerned authority.
The Madras High Court on Wednesday allowed Isha Foundation’s plea against the show cause notice issued by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and observed that the foundation is an Educational Institution that undergoes group activities and teaches yoga, thus it will be exempted from obtaining environmental clearance from the Centre before taking up construction.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishnakumar quashed the show cause notice issued by the TNPCB seeking reply from the Foundation as to why the prosecution should not be launched against it for carrying out construction work between 2006 and 2014 in Coimbatore.
The TNPCB stated that the Isha foundation had not obtained mandatory environmental clearance as per the Central government’s environmental impact assessment notification, 2006.
According to a clarification issued by the Centre in 2014, the Foundation had contended that all educational institutions, industrial sheds, and hostels are “exempted” from the requirement of obtaining mandatory environmental clearance before beginning construction work. As a yoga center "engaged in promoting mental development," Isha Foundation claimed that it would fall under the purview of an educational institution.
On the contrary, the counsel for the State argued that the foundation’s claim of being an educational institute was “disputed." Even if one accepts that the yoga centers at the foundation qualify as educational institutes, he argued that such educational structures occupy only 10,000 square meters of area, not over 1.25 lakh square meters of Coimbatore premises.
The Centre on May 19, 2022, issued a memorandum expanding the definition of "educational institution" to include institutes that provide training in areas critical to mental, moral, and physical development.
Taking note of the aforesaid memorandum, the court held that, “The one lakh twenty-five thousand square meters of group development construction will fall within the scope of amended notification in our view".
Case Title: Isha Foundation v. Union of India and Others
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