The BJP-led Central government told the Madras high court that Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation need not require prior environmental clearance for carrying out construction work between the years 2006 and 2014 in the Coimbatore district.
Speaking for the government, Additional Solicitor General R Sankaranarayanan told a bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishna Kumar that according to the 2014 Environment Protection Amendment Rules, exemptions for clearance are allowed for educational institutes, industrial sheds, hospitals, and Isha Foundation can be considered as an educational institute.
In January this year, the Tamil Nadu government issued a notice to the foundation asking why it had failed to obtain an environmental clearance under the Union government’s Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2006.
In its reply, the foundation claimed they come under educational institutes and hence the 2014 Environment Protection Amendment Rules apply to them.
According to the foundation, it is a volunteer-run registered public charitable trust. The Isha Yoga Center in Velliangiri hills in Coimbatore was set up in 1992 where a variety of courses in yoga, classical arts, and Sanskrit are taught. The foundation also began imparting English-medium education, affiliated with the ICSE Board.
Accusing the state government’s notice as ‘illegal’, the foundation claimed that the construction works were being carried out since 1994, much before the above rules were introduced.
The high court will hear the matter further on September 28.
