A group of lawyers, researchers and law students has urged Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to retract recent Supreme Court observations
May 21, 2026: A group of 72 lawyers, law students, faculty members, researchers and legal activists has written an open letter to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant seeking a retraction of recent Supreme Court remarks related to environmental activism and litigation. The controversy stems from observations made by a Supreme Court bench on May 11, where the court questioned whether environmental activists had ever supported any development project in the country.
The signatories, associated with the National Alliance for Justice, Accountability and Rights (NAJAR), argued that the remarks unfairly portrayed citizens and groups working to protect the environment within the legal framework. In the letter, they expressed concern that environmental litigation was increasingly being viewed as an obstruction to development rather than a legitimate constitutional and statutory process aimed at enforcing environmental safeguards and accountability.
The letter further warned that such observations reflected a broader shift in environmental jurisprudence — from recognising citizens as protectors of ecological rights to treating them as “so-called environmental activists.” The group urged the Chief Justice to reaffirm constitutional principles surrounding environmental public interest litigation and the role of the National Green Tribunal, stressing that such legal actions are essential tools for ensuring rule-of-law scrutiny in development-related decision-making.