Bengaluru: The National Green Tribunal (NGT)’s refusal to interfere with the environmental clearance given to the infrastructure projects on Great Nicobar island in the Andaman and Nicobar has drawn flak from several quarters. Scientists who have worked on the island on various aspects including its wildlife and tribal communities said that while the NGT’s response does not come as a surprise given its previous stands, the order was not justified.The NGT had said on Monday (February 16) that it found ‘no good grounds’ to interfere with the environmental clearance that the Union environment ministry gave in 2022 for an international transshipment terminal, a township, a power plant and a greenfield airport on the Island, costing more than Rs 80,000 crore.The NGT in its February 16 order had said that the projects were of “national importance” and there was a “need for a balanced approach”.Clearances despite cautionHowever, experts from various fields have advised caution about the detrimental impacts the projects would have on the island’s biodiversity and indigenous communities – for the last several years.For instance, the environmental impact assessment conducted by the government to gauge the projects’ impact on the island was short, incomplete (only a single-season study) and cherry-picked data, scientists had told The Wire in January 2022.Despite these and other concerns, including the fact that 130.75 square kilometres of forest land would be cleared for the projects, the Union environment ministry gave the projects Stage-I in-principle environmental clearance the same year.The projects will be tantamount to the genocide of the Shompens, an indigenous community who live on the island, said international indigenous rights organisation Survial International in a report to the United Nations in April 2025.Ecologists and researchers asked the Union government in October 2025 to halt the projects because 25% of the area of the island would be diverted for them; and that tribal communities had not been represented in the public hearing for the projects (a public meeting that informs local communities about the projects and takes note of their concerns).Members of these tribes have alleged – as recently as less than a month ago – that they had been asked to sign “surrender certificates” to give up their claims on their ancestral lands.Conflict of interestThe NGT’s February 16 order refusing to interfere in the environmental clearance for the projects after environment activist Ashish Kothari filed petitions regarding this in the Tribunal comes despite these warnings by experts, and dissent from indigenous communities. In 2023, the Tribunal had put together a high-powered committee (HPC) to look into these and other issues.But the composition of the committee shows a blatant conflict of interest, a researcher who has worked on the island for several years told The Wire.The committee contains only officials from government departments including research institutes that come under the Union environment ministry. Institutes like the Wildlife Institute of India stand to benefit monetarily from the project for the studies and mitigation measures it plans to put in place to reduce the impacts of the projects, the researcher, who did not want to be named, told The Wire.The NGT has not made this HPC report public. It did not even share this report with Kothari, who is the petitioner in these cases.And yet, the NGT has used the findings of the HPC report to conclude in its February 16 order that the Union environment ministry has all “safeguards” – or mitigation measures – in place to ensure minimal damage to people or biodiversity through the projects.‘Not surprised’The NGT in its order said that the projects will not affect coral cover, based on the Zoological Survey of India’s finding that there are no corals in the area. And yet, at the same time the institute recommends translocating around 16,000 coral colonies – which means that corals will indeed be affected.The NGT has also declared that the projects do not fall under the Coastal Regulation Zone I of the Island Coastal Regulation Zone Notification of 2019. This is despite the fact that studies record more than 500 nestings of leatherback turtles in Great Nicobar’s Galathea Bay in three consecutive nesting seasons, another scientist who did not want to be named said.Scientists like the researcher who have worked on the island on various aspects including its wildlife and tribal communities said that the NGT’s response does not come as a surprise – given its previous stands.In 2023 too, the NGT had said that it would not “interfere” with the forest and environment clearances accorded to the projects on the Island.In 2025, the NGT also refused to consider the parts of the HPC’s report that were withheld from the public, to revisit the environmental clearance given to the projects.‘Deeply disappointing’Former Union environment minister and MP Jairam Ramesh called the NGT’s decision to not interfere in the environment clearance for the projects “deeply disappointing”.“The decision of the National Green Tribunal giving its approval to the Great Nicobar project is deeply disappointing. There is clear evidence that the project will have disastrous ecological impacts. The conditions for its clearance, that the NGT draws reference to, will do little to deal with these long-term consequences. The matter is, however, still under argument in the Calcutta High Court that now is the only beacon of hope,” he said in a post on social media on February 16.