The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to consider a writ petition which had been filed by a Congress MP, Jairam Ramesh, seeking a writ challenging the grant of ex-post facto environmental clearances and noted that the petition appeared to seek publicity in the media and warned them that they may be fined exemplary costs. Granting Ramesh harsh words on the bench, he had to withdraw the petition.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi commented that the petition was in effect an attempt to challenge a three-judge bench ruling passed on November 20, 2025, by a 2:1 majority. Such a decision had supported the legality of the issuance of environmental clearance when projects were initiated pursuant to some government notifications.
During the hearing, the bench responded to the filing saying it is just to secure media publicity. The court also gave an indication that Ramesh could not oppose the decision of the November 20, but the right course of action would be to launch a review petition and not a fresh writ petition.
Representing Ramesh, his lawyer presented an argument that the previous ruling had considered two notifications of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) of 2017 and 2021. He argued that the current petition was also challenging another notification made in January 2026 to bring to effect the decision of the Supreme Court.
The bench, however, doubted on the sustainability of the petition saying that a writ petition could not be indirectly relied upon as a mechanism of appealing a Supreme Court ruling. It cautioned to be prepared of exemplary costs.
After such observations, the counsel of Ramesh requested that the plea be withdrawn under a liberty to seek alternative legal recourse but the court permitted this.
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