In Brief
Electrotherm (India) Ltd. operated a steel plant and sought environmental clearance for expansion that would triple its production capacity and water requirement. While an earlier public hearing in 2007 covered the initial expansion, the 2010 expansion clearance was granted without fresh public consultation, despite substantially increased pollution load and resource use. The Supreme Court held that public hearing is mandatory and the exemption was invalid. However, rather than ordering complete plant closure as the High Court did, the Court modified the requirement to post-decisional (after-the-fact) public hearing within three months, recognizing that expansion had already occurred and compliance with most environmental standards had been achieved."
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