Isha Foundation is 'educational institute' since it teaches Yoga and is exempt from prior environmental clearance: Madras High Court

Since Jaggi Vasudev's Isha foundation undertakes group development activities and runs a Yoga Centre, it will be considered an educational institute and will therefore, be entitled to the exemption granted by the Central government from seeking prior environmental clearance for construction activities, the Madras High Court ruled on Wednesday [Isha Foundation v Union of India and Others]. .A bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishnakumar, therefore, allowed a petition filed by the Isha Foundation and quashed a show cause notice that the Tamil Nadu government had issued on November 19, 2021 to the Foundation alleging breach of environmental norms in the construction of its Coimbatore campus.The show cause notice had said that while Isha Foundation had carried out construction work, it had failed to obtain the mandatory environmental clearance under the Union government's Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2006.The Court quashed the notice and the subsequent prosecution initiated against the Foundation. The Foundation had maintained that since it was a yoga institute, it helped develop one's mental and physical health and, therefore, must be categorised as an educational institute. It challenged the TN government's show cause notice and argued that the 2014 Environment Protection Amendment Rules were an extension of the 2006 Rules and were added to clarify that educational institutes, industrial sheds, hostels, hospitals, seminaries, etc., could avail the exemption. .It was contended that the 2014 amendment granted retrospective exemption to educational institutes and, therefore, the State government's action to issue notice and initiate prosecution were illegal. The TN Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram argued that the Foundation's claim of being an educational institute remained "disputed." He had said that even if one were to accept that the Yoga centres at the Foundation could qualify as educational institutes, even then such educational structures came to measure only around 10,000 square metres of the over 1.25 lakh square metres of the Foundation premises in Coimbatore. The State government also argued that the 2014 Amendment was to be applicable only prospectively. However, Senior Advocate Satish Parasaran said on behalf of the Foundation that according to an office memorandum issued on May 19, 2022 to clarify the 2014 notification, educational institutes were defined as schools, colleges, and any other institute that catered to one's "physical, mental, and moral development." Therefore, the Foundation need not have sought prior environmental clearance for carrying out construction work between the years 2006 and 2014 at its premises in Coimbatore district, Parasaran said. The Central government also supported Isha Foundation's stance stating that Foundation could claim exemption on the ground of being an institute that promotes education. The Court accepted Isha Foundation's contention and ruled that "the one lakh twenty five thousand square metres of group development construction will fall within the scope of amended notification in our view.""When the fourth respondent (TN Pollution Control Board) has admitted that the construction undertaken is for group development/yoga centre, a careful reading of the Union government's Office Memorandum shows that yoga centre comes within the definition of educational institutions and it comes within the exemption. The petitioner is therefore, excluded from getting prior sanction as per the December 22, 2014 notification," the Court said. Referring to a 2020 interim stay imposed by the Kerala High Court on the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests' 2014 notification exempting educational institutions and industrial sheds with built-up area of more than 20,000sq metres from obtaining environmental clearance, the Madras High Court said that such stay could be implemented only in Kerala.."The interim order of the Kerala High Court is applicable within the territorial jurisdiction of Kerala. The jurisdiction of a High Court is limited to the territory (sic) jurisdiction of the state in which such court is located," the Madras High Court said. Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram and Additional Advocate General J Ravindran appeared for the Tamil Nadu government. Senior counsel Satish Parasaran appeared for Isha Foundation.