The environmental clearance (EC) regime in India—centered on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework—aims to balance developmental needs with ecological protection. Over three decades the EIA process has evolved from a largely procedural checklist into a politically salient and legally contested institution. Despite this progress, persistent loopholes undermine substantive environmental protection: retroactive or ex-post facto approvals; weak public consultation and information disclosure; institutional overlap and regulatory capture; narrow scoping that excludes cumulative and indirect impacts; and poor monitoring and enforcement after clearances are granted. These weaknesses create incentives for project proponents to commence activities prior to statutory compliance, shift burdens of proof to civil society, and allow environmental harms to become entrenched before remedial measures are required. Recent judicial interventions have both constrained and clarified the EC regime: courts have enforced stricter standards for public participation, curtailed unauthorized ex-post facto regularizations, and emphasized precautionary and polluter-pays principles, while also recognizing limits on judicial policymaking.