Overview
- The Bench of Justices P. S. Narasimha and Atul S. Chandurkar held that companies share the Article 51A(g) duty to protect the environment and that CSR outlays for ecology are obligations, applying the polluter-pays principle where habitats are harmed.
- The Court approved revised priority conservation areas of 14,013 sq km in Rajasthan and 740 sq km in Gujarat, focusing protection on the species’ remaining strongholds.
- Within these zones, no new wind turbines are permitted and no new solar parks or solar plants above 2 MW may be set up, with new overhead lines barred except 11 kV and below through dedicated corridors.
- Targeted remediation was ordered, including immediate undergrounding of 80 km of 33 kV lines in Rajasthan and about 250 km of critical lines within two years under oversight of the MoEFCC’s Inspector General, Wildlife Division, with dedicated power corridors approved.
- The Court directed in-situ and ex-situ conservation, monitoring and long-term climate studies, and declined a blanket bird-diverter mandate pending further pilots by the Wildlife Institute of India and an independent agency.