Supreme Court declines to interfere with forest clearances for Adani’s Madhya Pradesh coal block project
The Supreme Court on Thursday, May 21, 2026, refused to interfere with environmental clearances granted to Adani Group’s coal block project in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district, citing the delay in challenging the approvals.
A bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe was hearing a plea by environmental activist Ajay Dubey challenging the April 22 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which dismissed his plea on limitation grounds against the environmental clearance granted to Mahan Energen Ltd., a subsidiary of Adani Power, in May 2025.
Questioning the delay, the Board observed verbally: “Your original application was made on January 22… why was there such a delay?”
Under Section 16 of the National Green Tribunal Act 2010, objections to orders made by statutory authorities should normally be lodged within 30 days; An additional extension of 60 days may also be allowed upon sufficient cause being shown.
‘Serious environmental problem’
Advocate Siddharth Gupta, appearing on behalf of Mr. Dubey, argued that the matter involved serious environmental concerns and technical objections should not prevent the court from exercising its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to examine the validity of permits.
“This is a serious environmental issue. It is not a contentious case. The powers enjoyed by this court under Article 142 are not curtailed or affected in any way by the NGT Act. Someone needs to judicially review the permits,” he said.
Mr Gupta also argued that the project would lead to felling of around six lakh trees spread across nearly 27 square kilometers of dense evergreen forest in Singrauli, which was designated as a “no-go” zone in 2011 and is known as an elephant corridor.
However, senior advocate ANS Nadkarni, appearing for Adani Group, urged the court to reject the plea.
The bench observed that the NGT relied on the 2025 judgment of the Supreme Court. Talli Gram Panchayat / Union of IndiaIn the case where the court examined the scope of limitation under Section 16 after considering the previous decisions and orders passed by the court.
“The matter was heard at length. We were concerned in this case as it involved an environmental issue,” the Bench said.
‘No proper communication’
Mr. Gupta, however, argued that the NGT had wrongly calculated the limitation period from May 10, 2025, the date on which the forest clearance was uploaded on the website of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
referring to Talli Gram Panchayat The order stated that environmental clearance orders should not only be uploaded on the Ministry’s website but also published in two local newspapers and placed on the websites of relevant gram panchayats and municipal authorities to ensure adequate public awareness.
“This was only uploaded on MoEF&CC’s website. What was required was that the fact of forest clearance was properly communicated to the affected people,” he said.
The Board then suggested that Mr. Dubey could pursue the matter through a writ petition. Mr Gupta then sought permission to withdraw the plea, which the court allowed while giving him the liberty to “take other legal remedies, if any”.
In his petition, Mr. Dubey had sought to justify the delay on the grounds that the forest clearance “was never made public.”
“However, in the present case, there is no other way in which the fact of forest clearance has been made public by the MoEF&CC, other than uploading it on the official website of the MoEF&CC of the Union of India on an obscure page which can only be discovered after considerable browsing and navigation,” the plea said. The statement was included.
He informed the court that it was only in the first week of December 2025, after mass protests by local residents as well as newspaper reports highlighting large-scale deforestation involving over 70,000 trees, that the granting of forest clearance permit to a subsidiary of Adani Power for a coal block spread over 1,397.54 hectares of reserved dense forest land came to public attention.
‘No-go zone’
The plea also stated that MoEF&CC had classified some dense forest areas in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as “no-go areas” between 2011-12, where coal block allotment and mining activities were not allowed in view of wider environment and public interest.
“‘No-go areas’ have been identified as areas with high forest density and canopy cover above 0.40-0.50, containing various tree species, plantations, flora and fauna. It has been consciously decided by the MoEF and CC that no mining permits, including coal mining, will be issued in such ‘no-go areas’,” the plea said.
It was published – 21 May 2026 21:27 IST
