The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition filed by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh challenging the grant of ex-post facto environmental clearance, terming the plea as one filed for “media publicity” and threatening to impose exemplary costs. The former Union environment minister subsequently withdrew his petition. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. (Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photo) A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that the petition effectively sought to challenge a three-judge bench judgment delivered by a 2:1 majority on November 20, 2025, which upheld the grant of ex-post facto environmental clearance. “You are filing this only for media publicity,” the bench remarked. Appearing for Ramesh, his counsel argued that the November 20 judgment had examined only two government notifications issued by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) in 2017 and 2021. He contended that the present petition also challenged a separate notification issued by the Centre in January 2026 to give effect to the November 20 ruling. “Why don’t you say it directly …