Public Interest Law Foundation v. Central Environmental Authority and Another – sllr 2001 volume 3 page 330

In the case between Public Interest Law Foundation (Plaintiff) and Central Environmental Authority (Defendant), the court addressed whether the approval for the Southern Expressway project should be set aside on the grounds that alternative, environmentally friendly options had not been sufficiently considered and that the Environmental Impact Assessment Report lacked adequate reasons for rejecting those alternatives. It was held that the role of judicial review is confined to examining the decision-making process rather than substituting judicial discretion for that of the expert or administrative authority. The principle reaffirmed is that courts do not weigh the merits of competing technical alternatives and only intervene where there is an illegality or procedural impropriety. The deci