India’s Supreme Court has declined to stop two public-interest cases challenging approvals for the Great Nicobar development project, leaving the Calcutta High Court to examine alleged failures under forest and tribal-rights law.
The Union government had challenged a High Court ruling that the petitions were maintainable. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant refused to interfere, noting that the High Court has already fixed final arguments for Nov. 25 and 26 and should decide the cases promptly.
The ruling is procedural. It does not decide whether the project’s approvals were lawful, whether the Forest Rights Act was breached or whether the challengers will ultimately succeed. It means those questions remain open for determination in the High Court rather than being cut off at the threshold.
The petitions concern a planned transshipment port, airport, power station and associated infrastructure on Great Nicobar Island. Former civil servant Meena Gupta and other challengers contend that the process failed to protect the rights of forest-dwelling and tribal communities and did not satisfy the statutory consent requirements. The Union and the Andaman and Nicobar administration dispute those claims and maintain that the necessary approvals were obtained.
By refusing the government’s appeal on maintainability, the Supreme Court preserved the High Court as the fact-finding forum. That distinction matters in a case built on records of consultation, environmental clearance and statutory compliance. The Supreme Court did not endorse the allegations; it decided that the pending proceedings should be allowed to reach a merits determination.
The High Court’s eventual judgment can still be appealed. For now, the project’s legal exposure rests on a full hearing of the challengers’ claims rather than a preliminary bar to their standing or the form of their petitions.
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