SC SLAMS TN BODY OVER DELAY IN PETITION AGAINST ISHA FOUNDATION
The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) for its delay in challenging the Madras high court’s 2022 decision quashing a show cause notice issued to Isha Foundation , founded by spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, over alleged unauthorised construction.
The court questioned why the state authorities took more than two years to approach the top court. “What prevented authorities from approaching this court in time? When State comes belatedly, we become suspicious,” observed a bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, addressing senior advocate V Giri, who appeared for TNPCB.
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The case concerns a show cause notice issued to Isha Foundation on November 19, 2021, for carrying out construction work at Velliangiri Hills, Coimbatore, between 2006 and 2014 without obtaining mandatory environmental clearance (EC). The foundation challenged the notice before the Madras high court, which ruled in its favor in December 2022, recognising the foundation as an “educational institution” and thus exempt from environmental clearance norms.
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During Friday’s hearing, the bench questioned the state’s argument that Isha Foundation does not qualify as an educational institution. “How do you say a yoga centre is not an educational institution? If they are not going as per plan, then you can assail... but you can’t be allowed to demolish construction which was raised before your eyes,” the bench led by Kant remarked.
Further, the court emphasised that the focus should now be on ensuring compliance with environmental standards. “Now that a yoga centre has been constructed, you are not saying it’s dangerous... Your concern now must be to ensure that all environmental parameters are complied with... sunlight, greenery --raise those issues. Everybody is obligated to comply with that,” it said.
Meanwhile, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Isha Foundation, defended the construction, asserting that all necessary approvals were in place. “We have approvals. They are talking only about EC. Only 20% is constructed, 80% is green. It’s one of the best centres in India,” Rohatgi submitted.
Seeking time to submit a more comprehensive affidavit, Giri assured the court that TNPCB would refine its submissions. The matter was then adjourned.
This is not the first time Isha Foundation has been in legal crosshairs in Tamil Nadu. In October 2024, the Supreme Court closed proceedings concerning allegations of illegal confinement at the foundation’s ashram in Coimbatore. The case stemmed from a petition by a retired college professor who alleged that his daughters were being held against their will at the ashram. However, no evidence of forced confinement was found, and both daughters -- aged 39 and 42 -- affirmed their voluntary stay. The court had in these proceedings noted that legal proceedings should not be weaponised to tarnish institutions, ruling that the habeas corpus plea had become redundant given the daughters’ unequivocal statements.
The present controversy arises from Isha Foundation’s construction activities since 1994, which, according to the organisation, predate the Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2006 that mandates prior environmental clearance. The foundation also argued that as a yoga centre “engaged in promoting mental development”, it falls under the definition of an educational institution. The Centre issued a clarification in 2014 exempting all educational institutions, industrial sheds and hostels from the environmental clearance requirement.
While the Tamil Nadu government opposed this characterisation on the ground that the exemption would apply to only about 10,000 square meters of the over 2 lakh square meters of Isha’s premises, the central government backed the foundation’s stance. In 2022, the Centre further reinforced this position by issuing a memorandum defining “educational institutions” to include those imparting training essential for mental, moral, and physical development.
The Madras high court, in quashing the show cause notice, observed that since the foundation promoted group development activities and yoga, it met the criteria for an educational institution and was thus entitled to the exemption.
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2025-02-14T23:19:06Z