'We know the design': Supreme Court raps Congress MP Jairam Ramesh over plea on retrospective environmental clearances

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily upon Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh for challenging the grant of ex-post facto environmental clearances by filing a writ petition, despite a judgment rendered by the apex court.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, while declining to entertain the plea, asked, how a writ petition can be filed, when the Supreme Court, in the Vanashakti review judgment, has approved the Union government's office memorandums on ex-post facto ECs.

The court asked MP's counsel to establish how his writ petition was maintainable.

"Don’t try to take left and right, basically, we know the design behind these writ petitions. There was a judgment which has been set aside by the larger bench. Now, you are indirectly filing a review petition. You want to say through a writ petition that the judgment is wrong. Why don’t you say it directly," the bench told the counsel.

The counsel contended that the ex-post facto clearances are "wrong" and the cause of action only arose after the judgment, "so I could only file after the judgment."

The bench then asked, "Therefore, can you challenge a judgment in a writ petition? When the judgment was delivered by this court, the government, in compliance with that judgment, issued notification”.

The counsel said that the petitioner also challenged the office memorandum issued in January 2026 as well by invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the court to stop the practice of ex-post facto ECs.

The bench, however, said that the petitioner should be ready for exemplary cost.

"Filing for just media…if you are aggrieved by the judgment, then you know your remedy. How can you seek review of a judgment through a writ petition,” the bench asked.

After realising that the court was not keen to entertain the plea, the counsel sought permission to withdraw the petition, which was allowed by the court.

On November 18, 2025, a three-judge bench led by then CJI B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran had recalled the earlier judgment delivered in May 2025, which restrained the Union government from granting post-facto ECs.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, however, had dissented.

The May 16 verdict by a bench of Justice A S Oka, since retired, and Justice Bhuyan had barred the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the authorities concerned from granting retrospective environmental clearance (EC) to projects that are found in violation of environmental norms.