New Delhi, May 17 -- The Supreme Court on Friday struck down Centre's office memorandums and notifications that allowed retrospective environmental clearances to projects that began without mandatory approvals, holding that development cannot come at the cost of the environment.

The ruling reinforces the sanctity of the environmental assessments process for construction and mining work and the principle of precautionary protection, experts said, welcoming the decision.

A bench led by Justice Oka ruled that projects that commenced without obtaining mandatory prior environmental clearance cannot be regularised by granting them clearance in future. The 2017 notification that first allowed this and a 2021 office memorandum, along with all r...