NGT must make public report of panel that reviewed approvals for Nicobar project: Jairam Ramesh
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday (August 9, 2026) urged the Green Tribunal (NGT) to make public the report of the High-Powered Committee it had
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday (August 9, 2026) urged the Green Tribunal (NGT) to make public the report of the High-Powered Committee it had directed to be set up to review the environmental approvals for the "ecologically disastrous" Great Nicobar Island Project and on the basis of which it had been "forced to give the go-ahead" for the venture. He said that if made public, the report will be shown to be deeply flawed. Ramesh hoped that various tribunals, and more particularly the NGT, would rediscover their voice and authority and fulfil their legal mandate in letter and spirit. "Tomorrow the Lok Sabha is scheduled to take up The Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2026 that may well chart a new future for 16 semi-judicial Tribunals set up over the years, including the very important Green Tribunal (NGT) that came into being in October 2010 by an Act of Parliament itself," he said on X. This Bill seeks to implement the Supreme Court's directions in the landmark Madras Bar Association judgment of November 19, 2025, that had struck down key provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 and called for an independent Tribunals Commission for appointments, Ramesh said.
"Since the very existence of an independent NGT was at stake, I had also joined the challenge to the 2021 Act in the Supreme Court. Earlier I had challenged even the provisions of the Finance Act, 2017 which had sought to emasculate the Tribunals by resorting to the subterfuge of having the amendments declared as part of a Money Bill to escape full and proper legislative scrutiny in both Houses of Parliament, especially the Rajya Sabha," he recalled. Much has already been lost because of the Modi government's refusal to heed reasoned criticism or even judicial precedent, the Congress leader alleged. No doubt the NGT was the main target because the Modi government was finding it inconvenient, he said. Having defended the untenable 2021 law all the way to the Supreme Court, it now finds itself compelled to enact many of the very reforms it had stoutly resisted, and which were so badly needed, Mr. Ramesh said, adding that confrontation has finally yielded to concurrence. "Hopefully the various Tribunals, and more particularly the NGT, will rediscover their voice and authority and fulfill their legal mandate in letter and spirit," he said.
To signal this revival, the NGT should make public the report of the High-Powered Committee it had directed to be set up to review the environmental approvals for the ecologically disastrous Great Nicobar Island Project and on the basis of which it had been forced to give the go-ahead for the project, Mr. Ramesh said. The Committee's report had been submitted in a 'sealed cover' to the NGT on July 8, 2025, he pointed out. A Bill to set up a commission to select chairpersons and members for various tribunals following a Supreme Court direction is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha this week. According to the Tribunals Reforms Bill, its key aim is to improve efficiency, ensure independence, transparency and uniformity in the qualification and appointment of chairpersons and members for various tribunals. The Bill, slated for introduction in the Lok Sabha next week, also lays the framework to set up a Tribunals Commission. To be headquartered in the national capital, the proposed commission will consist of a chairperson and four members, of whom two will be judicial members and two technical members.
The BriefWire