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Issues Involved:
Whether the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court could entertain and allow the petition filed as Public Interest Litigation for setting aside an order passed by NEAA and remand the case for decision on merits. Details of the Judgment: The Appellant, a company, applied for expansion of its plant, which was granted environmental clearance. However, a group filed a suit and subsequent applications for injunction against the public hearing. Another writ petition was filed but later withdrawn. Respondent No. 1 challenged the environmental clearance granted by NEAA. NEAA dismissed the appeal citing lack of standing of the appellant organization. Respondent No. 1 then filed a Writ Petition as a Public Interest Litigation to set aside NEAA's order and have the appeal decided on merits. The Appellant objected to the maintainability of the petition, citing it should have been filed under Article 226 and that the Delhi High Court lacked jurisdiction. The Division Bench overruled the objections and relied on a previous judgment to conclude that the appellant organization had standing to challenge NEAA's decision. The Supreme Court noted that the petition should have been heard by a Single Judge as per the Delhi High Court Rules, and the Division Bench's decision was legally impermissible. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, setting aside the impugned order and directing the writ petition to be listed before a Single Judge for decision without influence from previous orders. It clarified that no opinion on the case's merits was expressed, allowing the parties to present arguments before the Single Judge. The importance of following jurisdictional rules by all benches of the High Court was emphasized to maintain the integrity of the judicial process.
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