New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday reprimanded Congress MP Jairam Ramesh for challenging an office memorandum issued by the Center to implement the Supreme Court judgment on retrospective environmental cleanup.Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said since the purpose of the office memorandum was to implement the Supreme Court’s judgment, the challenge was actually against the judgment itself.“Be prepared for model cost. We know the design behind this,” a committee headed by CJI Surya Kant said.“Can the judgment be challenged through a writ petition? This is only for media consumption,” the bench added.When the Supreme Court warned of the model costs, Ramesh withdrew his plea.In May last year, the Supreme Court had dismissed the Centre’s office memorandum allowing ex post facto or retrospective environmental clearance for projects violating norms, holding that the right to live in a pollution-free environment is part of the fundamental rights.“The federal government, like individual citizens, has a constitutional duty to protect the environment,” the court said, adding that it “must come down hard” on the Center for trying to do “something that is wholly prohibited by law”.It further stated that “cleverly, the words ex post facto” were not used, but if these words were not used, there would be a provision that would effectively grant an “ex post facto EC”. The issuance of OM 2021 is contrary to the ruling of this Court…”Accordingly, the Center is prohibited from issuing directions for granting ex post facto permission in any form or manner or regulating violation of environmental impact assessment notifications.
