Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea challenging forest clearances for Adani coal mining project in MP

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain an appeal challenging the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) decision to reject a plea against environmental clearances granted for an Adani-linked coal mining project in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli forest area, part of which is claimed to fall within an elephant corridor [Ajay Dubey vs. Union of India & Ors.].

A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said that it was not inclined to examine the merits of the environmental clearances.

The petitioner then chose to withdraw the appeal.

The NGT had earlier rejected the plea as time-barred leading to the appeal before the top court.

The case originated from a challenge mounted before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by environmental activist Ajay Dubey against forest clearances granted to Mahan Energen Limited, a subsidiary of the Adani Group, for a coal mining project spread across nearly 1,400 hectares of forest land in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh.

Dubey alleged that the project area formed part of an elephant corridor stretching across parts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and involved large-scale deforestation affecting nearly six lakh trees.

He further contended that prior approval from the National Board for Wildlife had not been obtained and that the project fell within “no-go” forest areas earlier identified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

However, the NGT dismissed the challenge on April 22 holding that it was barred by limitation under Section 16 of the NGT Act.

Dubey then approached the Supreme Court. He filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking quashing of the forest clearances on merits and a separate civil appeal challenging the NGT’s limitation ruling.

The writ petition was rejected by a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on May 11.

On the civil appeal, the CJI directed the matter to be placed before a bench comprising Justice Narasimha.

In the appeal, Dubey argued that mere uploading of the forest clearances on the Ministry website did not amount to “communication” under Section 16 of the NGT Act.

He contended that the clearances were never publicised through local authorities or newspapers and that affected persons became aware of the project only after reports emerged in December 2025 regarding large-scale deforestation activity and protests by local residents.

He further argued that limitation under Section 16 would begin only when the order was effectively communicated to affected persons and placed meaningfully in the public domain, and not merely upon publication on an “obscure” page of the Ministry’s website.

During the hearing of the appeal, advocate Siddharth R Gupta, appearing for Dubey, argued that the matter raised serious environmental concerns and sought invocation of the Supreme Court’s powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to independently examine the legality of the forest clearances despite the NGT’s limitation ruling.

Gupta contended that nearly six lakh trees were involved and that the project area formed part of an elephant corridor. It was further argued that the powers of the Supreme Court could not be curtailed by the NGT Act.

The Bench, however, was not inclined to examine the legality of the forest clearances.

It accordingly dismissed the civil appeal.

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