NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday criticised the Centre over the processing of retrospective environmental clearances, alleging that the government was continuing an “ecologically damaging saga.”
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh cited a media report stating that the Union environment ministry had asked central and state-level expert bodies to restart processing proposals seeking post-facto environmental clearances.
The report said the move came two months after the Supreme Court allowed the ministry to take pending, rejected or returned proposals to their “logical conclusion” in accordance with the law. “The ecologically damaging saga of retrospective environmental clearances continues,” Ramesh said on X.
He referred to the Supreme Court’s May 16, 2025 judgment, in which a two-judge bench had rejected the grant of retrospective environmental clearances and called it a “bold verdict”. However, on November 18, 2025, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by the Chief Justice overturned the earlier decision, Ramesh said, stressing that this was “just wrong”.
On July 29, 2026, another three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the present Chief Justice, unanimously struck down the facility for retrospective environmental clearances provided by the Modi government initially on March 14, 2017, and later reaffirmed in an Office Memorandum on July 7, 2021, he said.
“This was a welcome development, but the verdict also allowed cases where such approvals had already been granted to proceed,” Ramesh said. That exemption diluted the impact of the judgment, he said. The Environment Ministry has now begun implementing this July 29, 2026 judgment, Ramesh said.
“It needs to be told again and again that ignorance of the law has never been the cause for seeking retrospective environmental approvals. It has always been the standard operating practice to start a project and seek environmental approvals later by presenting a fait accompli - the ‘baad mein dekha jayega’ approach,” Ramesh said.
Supreme Court verdict
On July 29, 2026, a three-judge bench of the SC, headed by the CJI, struck down the facility for retrospective environmental clearances provided by the government.
