Supreme Court refuses to stay Great Nicobar hearings; 'preservation of culture' a fundamental right

The Supreme Court has refused to halt the Calcutta High Court's examination of the ₹92,000-crore Great Nicobar "holistic development" project, in a significant setback for the Union government and a boost for the tribal communities and environmental groups challenging the mega-project.

The Centre had approached the top court with a Special Leave Petition asking it to stay further proceedings before the Calcutta High Court, where five petitions are pending alleging that the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 was violated in clearing the project. The petitions challenge the Gram Sabha consent resolutions, the diversion of forest land and reductions in the buffer zones of the Campbell Bay and Galathea Bay National Parks.

According to reports, the court declined to stay the High Court proceedings and observed that the preservation of tribal culture is a fundamental right — a formulation that places the constitutional weight of the case squarely on the side of the Shompen and Nicobarese communities whose forests and way of life the project would transform.

One of the petitioners is Meena Gupta, a retired IAS officer who served as Secretary in both the Union ministries of Environment and Tribal Affairs and helped draft the FRA itself. The Centre had questioned her locus standi, calling the challenges an "abuse of process". On May 6, the Calcutta High Court rejected that preliminary objection, holding that she had "sufficient interest" and was "espousing the cause of the vulnerable tribal community". The High Court has fixed the final hearing for November 25 and 26.

The government's stance has drawn sharp criticism from the Opposition. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the Modi government of "bulldozing" through the project, alleging that environmental approvals were "deeply flawed", that impact assessments were "pre-fixed and of dubious value", and that the Centre was "mindlessly going ahead with inflicting this ecological disaster on our country" even while the petitions were pending.

The project is among the largest infrastructure proposals in India's history: a 14.2-million-TEU international container transshipment terminal, a greenfield international airport, a 450-MVA gas-solar power plant and a planned township, aimed at leveraging Great Nicobar's position near the East-West international shipping route and reducing dependence on foreign transshipment ports. More than 130 sq km of pristine tropical rainforest would be diverted.

The timing of the Centre's Supreme Court move has also raised eyebrows: according to reports, the government had agreed as recently as September 24 to the November hearing dates before seeking a stay. Ramesh called it "an astonishing U-turn". With the Supreme Court refusing to intervene, the High Court's November hearings will proceed — and the question of whether the project followed the law protecting India's forest-dwelling communities will finally be examined in full.