CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday sought the State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority’s (SEIAA) response to a writ petition filed by Brigade Enterprises Limited challenging revocation of the environmental clearance (EC) granted for its housing project at Pallikaranai.
Senior counsel PS Raman, representing the petitioner-firm, submitted that the EC granted on January 20, 2025, was revoked without following due procedures.
He said the petitioner was not even given an opportunity of being heard by SEIAA before passing the impugned orders dated May 12, 2026. Subsequently, Justice Mohammed Shafiq ordered notice to the respondents directing them to file reply to the petition and adjourned the hearing to July 28.
The petition stated that the project was developed after obtaining all statutory approvals, planning permission from CMDA and other necessary no objection certificates from competent authorities. The project lands are private patta lands classified as dry land (punjai) in the revenue records and have never been notified as wetlands under the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, it said.
It added that the revocation order was issued without any show cause notice, without affording an opportunity to submit a response and without granting personal hearing to the petitioner. It noted that the impugned order is further rendered unsustainable for having relied upon undisclosed materials — the Wetland Authority’s letter dated April 16 which was never furnished to the petitioner.
The respondents could not have presumed the applicability of wetland restrictions, the petition said, and noted that no competent authority has determined that the project site falls within the wetland or prior permission from the Wetland Authority is required.
It assailed the decision of the SEIAA to revoke the clearance as ‘acted wholly without jurisdiction’ and in excess of its statutory mandate by effectively determining wetland status and assessing the zone of influence because these function exclusively within the domain of the Wetland Authority.