New Delhi: The Union government has approached the Supreme Court to stay all hearings related to petitions alleging violations related to the Great Nicobar projects at the Calcutta high court, The Hindu reported on Wednesday (September 30). Per the report, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change filed a special leave petition for this on July 24. However, conservationists have asked why the Union government approached the apex court, and not the Calcutta high court where the petitions are filed.Meanwhile, former Union environment minister and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the Union government’s petition to the Supreme Court to stay hearings related to the project an “astonishing U-turn”.A special leave petition from the environment ministryThe Rs 92,000-crore projects on Great Nicobar island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands include an international transshipment terminal, a township, greenfield airport, power plant and tourism facilities. The projects have attracted much controversy for the numerous ecological and environmental impacts on the small island, and on the indigenous communities (the Shompen and Nicobarese) who call the island home. Several conservationists, including retired civil servants had petitioned against these projects in both, the National Green Tribunal and the Calcutta high court. One of the petitions deals with the violation of indigenous forest rights under the Forest Rights Act (the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act) (FRA), 2006. The petitioner in this case is Meena Gupta, a retired IAS officer who served as Secretary in both the Environment and Tribal Affairs Ministries. Responding to the petition, the Union government had questioned the locus standi of the petitioner, claiming that Gupta was not a permanent resident of the Andaman and Nicobar islands and therefore did not have any stake to object against the projects at Great Nicobar. However, the Calcutta high court had overruled this. The court had noted that as per Rule 56 of the FRA, if a person or class of persons by reason of poverty, helplessness or disability or socially or economically disadvantageous positions is unable to approach to court for relief, for redressal of their grievance, any member of the public can approach the court on their behalf. “A project involving huge expenditure must proceed in accordance with governing laws holding the field and it is not beyond the scope of judicial review on permissible parameters,” the high court had said.The Hindu reported on Wednesday that in an special leave petition, filed on July 24 before the Supreme Court, the environment ministry had sought a stay on the high court order and the pending proceedings. Per the report, the Union government has again said that the petitioner had no locus standi, and that “the challenges to the project filed before the High Court were an abuse of process and that the government was duty-bound to ensure that the country’s growth is not stopped by claims of private individuals”.Per The Hindu report, as of September 24, the Union government had consented to the matters being posted for final hearing on November 25 and 26, and the SLP is listed for tentative hearing on October 5.Why approach the Supreme Court?Why didn’t the Union government follow this up legally by approaching the Calcutta high court where the petitions are filed, asked Prakriti Srivastava, a former officer of the Indian Forest Service, who retired as the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Kerala. Questioning an ex-secretary’s locus standi is very strange, she said, commenting on the Union government’s stance that the petitioner in one of the cases was not a resident of the Andaman and Nicobar islands and therefore did not have any stake to object against the projects at Great Nicobar. “If the petitioner doesn’t have a stake, who will,” asked Srivastava. “She has spent a lot of time in the islands. And do you mean to say that a concerned citizen of this country cannot object to an ecologically- and environmentally-damaging project?”Moreover, the project is a blatant violation of many laws and rules of the country, she added. She cited the examples of how the Union government’s de-notification of the Galathea Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and the Megapode Wildlife Sanctuary on the Great Nicobar Island did not follow due process. The projects do not have the proper approvals under the Forest Rights Act, and Gram Sabha consents are questionable too, she added. Also read: Conservationists Decry National Board for Wildlife, Court Gives Govt 4 Weeks to Reply“Don’t those voiceless citizens [Shompen and Nicobarese indigenous communities] in Great Nicobar island matter? They are few in number, and you’re taking away their rights to life and existence through the project,” Srivastava told The Wire. “The government says that is an important project for the defence of the country. But when the people of the country are not left, what defence will you do?”‘Astonishing U-turn’Former Union environment minister and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the government’s petition to the Supreme Court to stay hearings related to the project an “astonishing U-turn”. “The Modi Govt has been bulldozing through the Rs 92,000 crore (revised upward from the earlier Rs72,000 crore) Great Nicobar Island Project. The various approvals under environment and forest laws have been deeply flawed and the impact assessment reports have been pre-fixed and are of dubious value,” he said in a post on social media platform X.“One faint glimmer of hope is provided by the 5 different petitions filed by public-spirited citizens and civil society groups that are pending in the Calcutta High Court. One of these petitions concerns serious violations of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 which affects the local tribal communities. The final hearing is fixed for Nov 25 and 26, 2026 to which the Modi Govt had agreed. But now in an astonishing U-turn the Modi Govt wants the Supreme Court to stay all proceedings in the Calcutta High Court,” he added.Also read: Suspend Clearances, Conduct Impartial Review of Great Nicobar Island Mega-Project: CongressRamesh noted that the Calcutta high court had upheld the right of the petitioner (a very senior official in both the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs), to file her challenge. “Her right to challenge had been questioned by the Modi Govt, but that had been rejected by the Calcutta High Court. Now the Modi Govt is making the same argument in the Supreme Court which hopefully will allow the Calcutta High Court to proceed on the matter as scheduled. The sad fact remains that even though these five petitions are pending in the Calcutta High Court the Modi Govt is mindlessly going ahead with inflicting this ecological disaster on our country,” Ramesh said.