The central government on Monday, 26 September, told the Madras High Court that self-proclaimed spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's Isha Foundation did not require prior environmental clearance for carrying out construction work in Coimbatore district between the years of 2006 and 2014.
Additional Solicitor General R Sankaranarayanan told the High Court bench that the 2014 Environment Protection Amendment Rules granted exemption from environmental clearance to educational institutes, industrial sheds, and hospitals.
Isha Foundation could claim this exemption on the grounds of being an institute that promotes education, he said.