The court sought the response of the ministry on the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on February 19, 2019. The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed two notifications of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change granting exemption from environmental clearance to building projects with up to 50,000 square metres of built up area and 1,50,000 square metres in case of industrial sheds, educational institutions and hospitals. A bench of justices Ravindra Bhat and Prateek Jalan passed the interim order on a plea by an NGO challenging the November 14 and 15 notifications of the ministry, alleging that they violated the fundamental rights to protect life and personal liberty and equality before law. The court sought the response of the ministry on the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on February 19, 2019. The petition, filed by NGO Social Action for Forest and Environment, pleaded that the government be directed to follow the principle of non-regression in both letter and spirit and not to dilute or relax environment norms without any reasonable basis. The plea said that by the two recent notifications, the ministry had substantially amended the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of September 14, 2006. It excluded the necessity of obtaining EC, EIA, or an Environmental Management Plan for building projects with up to 50,000 sq. metres built up area and 1,50,000 sq. metres in the case of industrial sheds, educational institutions and hospitals, as against the current criteria of 20,000 square metres built-up area, the plea said. This brought such projects out of purview of the regulatory regime of the Environment (Protection) Act. The petition alleges that the Centre’s notifications are ultra vires the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, the EIA notification of September 2006, the Air Pollution Act and the Water Pollution Act.