India, Aug. 9 -- The Supreme Court has disposed of a writ petition filed by NGO Vanshakti vs Union of India, reaffirming that the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) will continue to be the competent authorities for project-level environmental assessments.

This ruling removes a key regulatory hurdle that had stalled approvals for nearly 500 housing projects, paving the way for thousands of homebuyers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune to finally get possession of their long-delayed homes.

In its ruling, the SC reaffirmed that the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) would remain the competent a...