The Vol. 2, Issue 10 of the newsletter brings to you the regulatory and policy updates relating to environment, including notable orders and judgments passed by the Supreme Court of India, various High Courts and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) during the month of June, 2022.

In a case between N. Godavarman Thirumulpad v. Union of India & Ors, the Supreme Court has directed the Government authorities to comply with the requirement for having minimum 1 km as Eco-Sensitive Zone (“ESZ”) around all protected areas in India. In exceptional cases, smaller ESZ may be acceptable, which will be subject to approval of the Supreme Court. The Court noted that ESZ cannot be uniform for all protected areas and therefore it should be site-specific. In its order, Supreme Court considered guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (“MoEFCC”) in 2011 for declaration of ESZ around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.

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