On 22 April 2026, the NGT Principal Bench held that the EIA Notification 2006 does not contemplate any 'deemed approval' of an Environmental Clearance, and directed the Tree Officer, MoEF&CC and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to act within eight weeks against a 61-acre Dwarka project that had felled approximately 2,000 trees without clearance.
The May 2026 cycle in Indian environmental law has produced an operationally consequential cluster — the Supreme Court's Chambal Gharial Sanctuary sand-mining directions on 26 May 2026, the NGT Principal Bench's Sultanpuri illegal tree-felling order, the Jaipur textile CETP operationalisation, the Sijimali bauxite project notice to Vedanta and MoEFCC, the Malbazar hospital bio-medical waste direction, the Waste-to-Energy CPCB compliance report, the pre-monsoon ESZ enforcement pattern, the CAQM 50 mg/Nm³ PM emission standard for Delhi-NCR, the Environmental (Protection) Fund Rules 2026, and the continuing T.N. Godavarman engagement on deemed-forest doctrine. A practitioner's read on the cycle.
The National Green Tribunal's 2026 dispositions have engaged a recurring pattern of environmental concerns — urban waterbody protection, infrastructure encroachment on protected ecosystems, groundwater management, and the institutional architecture for compliance with environmental clearances. A practitioner's read on the year's substantive direction, with attention to the Omaxe City pond rejuvenation directive (Lucknow), the Delhi Ridge architecture, and the NHAI / Delhi waterbody intervention.