Jairam Ramesh beats hasty retreat after SC gives him a mouthful

NEW DELHI: Congress MP and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh had to beat a retreat in Supreme Court on Thursday with a CJI Surya Kant-led bench taking exception to what it called a “design” to challenge an SC order and threatening to impose exemplary cost.

The response came on a petition filed by Ramesh challenging govt’s office memorandum issued last month to implement SC’s Nov-18 judgment that had regularised retrospective environment clearance for public projects.

On Nov 18, a three-judge bench, by a two-to-one majority, had recalled SC’s May 16, 2025, judgment which had directed demolition of projects worth Rs 20,000 crore on grounds that even though they had paid penalty, they were illegally given ex-post facto environment clearance.

When Ramesh’s counsel Muhammad Ali Khan began his arguments challenging the Jan OM allowing retrospective environment clearance for projects, the bench of CJI Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi asked, “Is this writ petition maintainable? What are you challenging?”

“We know the design behind this. Through a writ petition, you want to seek review of the judgment. Be ready for exemplary cost. This is all for media publicity,” it remarked.

The bench said, “The OM is implementing the Nov 18 judgment. So, in effect you are challenging the judgment. Can you challenge a judgment of the SC through a writ petition? ...If you have a grievance against the judgment, you have a remedy to file a review petition, but you can’t file a writ petition challenging a judgment.”

Given the choice between exemplary cost and withdrawal of the petition, Khan chose the latter.

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