New Delhi, Nov 18: The Supreme Court, by a 2:1 majority, has recalled its May-16 judgment that had stopped the government from giving retrospective (ex-post facto) environmental clearances to projects that violated environmental rules.

On Tuesday, a bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, and Justice K Vinod Chandran delivered three separate judgments while hearing around 40 review and modification petitions against the earlier Vanshakti judgment.

The May-16 verdict, delivered by Justice A S Oka (now retired) and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, had barred the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and other authorities from granting retrospective environmental clearances (ECs) to projects that were found violating environmental norms.

In the new decision, CJ

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