Congress trains fire on NGT, seeks Great Nicobar panel report’s release

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has urged the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to make public the report of a High-Powered Committee that reviewed environmental clearances for the Great Nicobar Island Project, calling the venture “ecologically disastrous” and alleging that the tribunal was “forced to give the go-ahead” based on the panel’s findings.

Ramesh said the report, if brought into the open, would reveal what he described as serious flaws in the assessment. He also called on the NGT and other tribunals to reclaim their institutional authority and discharge their legal mandate without fear or favour.

His intervention comes as the Lok Sabha prepares to consider the Tribunal Reforms Bill, 2026, legislation that seeks to overhaul the framework governing 16 tribunals, including the NGT, which was established by Parliament in 2010.

According to Ramesh, the proposed legislation seeks to give effect to the Supreme Court’s directions in its November 19, 2025, judgment in the Madras Bar Association case. The court had struck down key provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, and called for an independent National Tribunals Commission to oversee appointments.

Ramesh recalled that he had joined the legal challenge against the 2021 legislation, arguing that the independence of tribunals, including the NGT, was at stake. He also criticised the government’s earlier attempts to amend the tribunal framework through the Finance Act, 2017, alleging that the move weakened parliamentary scrutiny, particularly in the Rajya Sabha.

He accused the Modi government of ignoring criticism and judicial precedent, claiming that the NGT had become a particular target because its decisions were inconvenient to the government.

Ramesh said the government, after defending the 2021 law before the Supreme Court, was now being compelled to introduce many of the reforms it had previously resisted. “Confrontation has finally yielded to concurrence,” he said.

At the heart of his latest demand is the Great Nicobar Island Project. Ramesh said the High-Powered Committee’s report was submitted to the NGT in a sealed cover on July 8, 2025, and argued that its disclosure would be an important test of the tribunal’s commitment to transparency.

The Tribunal Reforms Bill proposes a new National Tribunals Commission headquartered in New Delhi, comprising a chairperson and four members — two judicial and two technical. A retired Supreme Court judge or former chief justice of a high court would be eligible to head the commission.

The proposed framework is aimed at improving efficiency while strengthening independence, transparency and uniformity in the appointment and functioning of tribunal members.

The Bill also responds to the Supreme Court’s criticism of provisions in the 2021 law that it found inconsistent with separation of powers and judicial independence. Once enacted, the new legislation would repeal the 2021 Act.

For Ramesh, however, the proposed reforms are about more than administrative restructuring. He said they offer tribunals, particularly the NGT, an opportunity to “rediscover their voice and authority” and reaffirm their role as independent guardians of environmental and legal safeguards.

With PTI inputs