New Delhi, Feb 12 (NationPress) The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to accept a writ petition submitted by Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh that challenged the issuance of ex-post facto environmental clearances (EC).

In November 2025, a three-judge Bench had permitted a review petition and overturned its previous May 2025 ruling in the Vanashakti case, which had prohibited the Union government from issuing post-facto ECs.

The review ruling reinstated the 2017 notification and 2021 Office Memorandum (OM) that allowed such retrospective approvals.

The Bench, consisting of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, noted that Ramesh's petition was essentially an effort to review its previous decision and questioned the validity of the petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.

"At the outset, for what reason has this been submitted? You are already aware that a three-judge Bench has made a ruling," the CJI-led Bench observed.

When the petitioner's counsel argued that the current petition contested the 2017 and 2021 OMs as well as a new OM issued in January 2026, the Supreme Court inquired about the maintainability of a writ petition against a decision previously upheld by the Court.

"How is this writ maintainable? The government has issued a notification in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling. By contesting it, you are indirectly seeking a review of that ruling. How can this be possible?" the Bench questioned.

It reaffirmed that if the grievance was directed at the November 2025 verdict, the suitable remedy would be to file a review petition, not a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.

"Why did you not file a review? In a writ petition, how can you seek to review a ruling? If you do so, be prepared for substantial costs," the bench warned, adding: "Have you submitted this for media attention?"

Recognizing the Supreme Court's reluctance to hear the case and its warning regarding costs, the petitioner's counsel requested permission to withdraw the petition.

The Bench permitted the withdrawal and dismissed the petition as withdrawn, allowing the opportunity to pursue remedies as per the law.

In May 2025, the Supreme Court nullified the 2017 notification and 2021 OM that authorized retrospective environmental clearances for projects that started or expanded without prior approvals under the 2006 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification. Subsequently, a review petition was lodged by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI), arguing that the May 2025 ruling imposed severe challenges on the real estate sector and related industries.

In November 2025, a three-judge Bench including then CJI B.R. Gavai, and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and K. Vinod Chandran accepted the review petition by majority, thereby reinstating the process for granting ex-post facto ECs.

The majority ruling noted that several large-scale public projects, with investments around Rs 20,000 crore, would face demolition if retrospective clearances were not reinstated, which would lead to further environmental harm. However, Justice Bhuyan expressed a strong dissent, asserting that no grounds for review were established and reiterating that ex-post facto environmental clearances are "alien to environmental jurisprudence."