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The Supreme Court connected Thursday (May 21, 2026) declined to interfere with the biology clearances granted to the Adani Group’s ember artifact task successful Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district, pointing to the hold successful challenging the approvals.
A Bench comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe was proceeding a plea filed by biology activistic Ajay Dubey challenging an April 22 bid of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had dismissed his plea against the May 2025 biology clearance granted to Mahan Energen Ltd., a subsidiary of Adani Power, connected the crushed of limitation.
Questioning the delay, the Bench orally observed, “Your archetypal exertion itself was filed connected January 22… wherefore was determination specified a delay?”
Under Section 16 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, challenges to orders passed by statutory authorities indispensable ordinarily beryllium filed wrong 30 days, with a further 60-day hold permissible upon capable origin being shown.
‘Serious biology issue’
Appearing for Mr. Dubey, advocator Siddharth Gupta contended that the substance progressive sedate biology concerns and that method objections ought not to basal successful the mode of the tribunal exercising its bonzer powers nether Article 142 of the Constitution to analyse the validity of the clearances.
“This is simply a superior biology issue. It is not adversarial litigation. The inherent powers of this tribunal nether Article 142 are not curtailed oregon affected successful immoderate mode by the NGT Act. Someone needs to judicially analyse the clearances,” helium submitted.
Mr. Gupta further argued that the task would pb to the felling of astir six lakh trees dispersed crossed astir 27 quadrate kilometres of dense evergreen wood successful Singrauli, an country designated arsenic a “no-go” portion successful 2011 and recognised arsenic an elephant corridor.
Senior advocator A.N.S. Nadkarni, appearing for the Adani Group, however, urged the tribunal to disregard the plea.
The Bench observed that the NGT had relied upon the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling successful Talli Gram Panchayat v. Union of India, wherever the tribunal had examined the scope of regulation nether Section 16 aft considering earlier judgments and orders passed by the tribunal.
“The substance was heard astatine length. In that case, we were acrophobic due to the fact that it progressive an biology issue,” the Bench observed.
‘No due communication’
Mr. Gupta, however, argued that the NGT had erroneously calculated the regulation play from May 10, 2025 — the day connected which the wood clearance was uploaded connected the website of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
Referring to the Talli Gram Panchayat ruling, helium submitted that biology clearance orders indispensable not lone beryllium uploaded connected the Ministry’s website but besides published successful 2 section newspapers and placed connected the websites of the acrophobic gram panchayats and municipal authorities to guarantee capable nationalist notice.
“It was lone uploaded connected the website of the MoEF&CC. What was indispensable was due connection of the factum of wood clearance to affected persons,” helium submitted.
The Bench thereafter suggested that Mr. Dubey could prosecute the substance done a writ petition. Following this, Mr. Gupta sought support to retreat the plea, which the tribunal allowed portion granting him liberty to “avail different ineligible remedies, if any”.
In his petition, Mr. Dubey had sought to warrant the hold connected the crushed that the wood clearance had “never been communicated to the nationalist astatine large”.
“However, successful the contiguous case, but for being uploaded connected the authoritative website of the MoEF&CC, Union of India, that excessively connected an obscure leafage discoverable lone aft sizeable surfing and navigation, determination has been nary different mode done which the factum of wood clearance was placed successful the nationalist domain by the MoEF&CC,” the plea stated.
He apprised the tribunal that it was lone aft paper reports successful the archetypal week of December 2025 highlighted large-scale deforestation involving implicit 70,000 trees, alongside wide protests by section residents, that the assistance of wood clearance for a ember artifact spanning 1,397.54 hectares of reserved dense wood onshore to an Adani Power subsidiary came to nationalist notice.
‘No-go area’
The plea besides pointed retired that the MoEF&CC had, during 2011-12, classified definite dense wood areas successful Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh arsenic “no-go areas”, wherever ember artifact allocation and mining activities were considered impermissible successful the larger biology and nationalist interest.
“The ‘no-go areas’ were identified arsenic regions possessing precocious wood density and canopy screen supra 0.40–0.50, comprising divers taxon of trees, plantations, flora and fauna. It was consciously decided by the MoEF&CC that nary support for mining, including ember mining, would beryllium granted successful specified ‘no-go areas’,” the plea added.
