In Brief
Steel Authority of India and Jayprakash Associates obtained environmental clearance in May 2008 to build a cement grinding unit on land designated as a green belt in Bhilai. The state later approved a land-use change to industrial in February 2011. An appellant filed a writ petition challenging both the clearance and the land-use modification. The Supreme Court held the challenge to the clearance was barred by limitation (over three years late). However, it partly allowed the appeal by remitting the case to the NGT to determine whether the challenge to the land-use modification notification could be entertained if delay was condoned, on the ground that such modification would violate clearance conditions.
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