Top Court Shields Isha Foundation's Yoga Centre In Coimbatore Against Sealing, Demolition

In a reprieve to Sadhguru's Isha Foundation, the Supreme Court on Friday put brakes on Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's plan to take coercive steps against the spiritual organisation for undertaking construction in the Coimbatore hills without a green nod a decade ago.

A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N.K. Singh offered a shield against sealing or demolition at the Yoga Centre on the Velliangiri hills but, at the same time, cautioned the Foundation to take prior environmental permissions as per law for any future construction.

"It goes without saying that if there is any need for expansion in future, the Respondent no.1 (Isha Foundation) will seek prior permission of the competent authorities," said the bench.

The bench had earlier noted that the Yoga Centre, which was in the pollution board's firing line, was entitled to the exemption - from prior environmental nod - as it is an educational centre.

The top court's relief to the Foundation was also partly linked to a two-year delay in the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) decision to challenge a Madras High Court order favouring the Foundation.

The High Court had earlier quashed a show cause notice issued to the Foundation for carrying out construction in the Velliangiri hills between 2006 and 2014 without obtaining environmental clearance.

Justice Kant and Justice Singh rejected the Board's appeal against the High Court's decision and clarified that the present case should not be treated as a precedent for regularising illegal constructions.

The court accepted the contention of Isha Foundation's Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi that the construction in question began in 1994, much before the issuing of the Central government's Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006.

The TNPCB issued a show cause notice to the Foundation on November 19, 2021, for carrying out construction work without mandatory environmental clearance as per the central notification.

The Foundation pleaded that the structure in Velliangiri hills was a Yoga Centre "engaged in promoting mental development", falling within the purview of an educational institution exempted from the requirement of obtaining mandatory environmental clearance prior to construction work.

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