VICTORY FOR SADHGURU..! Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Isha

In a significant victory for Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Madras High Court ruling quashing notices issued by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) over alleged environmental violations. The decision protects the foundation’s yoga and meditation centre in Coimbatore’s Velliangiri foothills from coercive action, ending a contentious legal battle that began in 2021.

The dispute originated when the TNPCB issued a show-cause notice on November 19, 2021, alleging that the Isha Foundation constructed buildings between 2006 and 2014 without mandatory environmental clearance under the 2006 Environment Impact Assessment Notification. The foundation challenged this in the Madras High Court, arguing its activities predated the rules (starting in 1994) and that, as a yoga centre, it qualified as an educational institution—exempt from such clearances per a 2014 central government clarification. In December 2022, the High Court quashed the notice, a decision the TNPCB appealed to the Supreme Court after a two-year delay.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh dismissed the TNPCB’s plea, affirming the High Court’s view. “No coercive steps shall be taken against the Isha Yoga and Meditation Centre,” the court ruled, while mandating compliance with environmental norms. Future expansions, it added, require prior approval from competent authorities. The bench had earlier, on February 14, criticized the TNPCB’s 637-day delay, calling it suspicious and suggesting a focus on ensuring compliance rather than demolition.

The ruling relieves the Isha Foundation, represented by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, which maintained it held all necessary approvals. For Tamil Nadu, Advocate General P.S. Raman argued the exemption’s limits, but the court prioritized practicality over retrospect. This marks another legal win for Isha, following a resolved confinement case in October 2024