SupremeToday Landscape Ad
Back
Next
Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation
Listen Audio Icon Pause Audio Icon
judgment-img

2025 Supreme(SC) 921

SURYA KANT, N. KOTISWAR SINGH
Bindu Kapurea – Appellant
Versus
Subhashish Panda – Respondent


Advocates appeared:
For the Petitioner(s): By Courts Motion, AOR Mr. Manan Verma, AOR Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Maninder Singh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Manika Tripathy, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Kaushik, Adv. Mr. Gautam Yadav, Adv. Mr. Atul Kumar, AOR Ms. Sweety Singh, Adv. Ms. Archana Kumari, Adv. Mr. Rahul Pandey, Adv. Mr. Harsh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sudipta Singha Roy, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Upadhyay, Adv. Ms. Diksha Joshi, Adv. Mr. Geet Ahuja, AOR Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR M/S. PLR Chambers And Co., AOR Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR M/s. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR M/s. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR
For the Respondent(s): Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Maninder Singh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Manika Tripathy, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Kaushik, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Mayank Pandey, Adv. Ms. Misha Kumar, Adv. Ms. Shivika Mehra, Adv. Mr. Ajay Kumar Pandey, Adv. Mr. Madhav Sinhal, Adv. Ms. Arunima Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. Atul Kumar, AOR Ms. Sweety Singh, Adv. Ms. Archana Kuamri, Adv. Mr. Rahul Pandey, Adv. Mr. Harsh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sudipta Singha Roy, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Upadhyay, Adv. Mrs. Diksha Joshi, Adv. Mrs. Garima Prashad, Sr. Adv. Mr. Shrey Kapoor, AOR Ms. Kanishka Mittal, Adv. Mr. Geet Ahuja, AOR Mr. Aditya Sondhi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Aman Panwar, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Kumar, Adv. Mr. Akash Panwar, Adv. Mr. Mudit Gupta, AOR Mr. Siddhant Buxy, AOR Mr. Anupam Lal Das, Sr. Adv. Ms. Anusurya Salwan, Adv. Mr. Deepak Goel, AOR Ms. Alka Goyal, Adv. Mr. Archana Preeti Gupta, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Jain, Sr. Adv. Ms. Bani Dikshit, Adv. Mr. Rahul Shyam Bhandari, AOR Ms. G Priyadharshni, Adv. Mr. Satyam Pathak, Adv. Mr. Prabhakar Pahepuri, Adv. Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Rajesh, AOR M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR Mr. Rishabh Sahu, Adv. Ms. Hema Sahu, Adv. Mr. Rajendra Sahu, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mr. B V Deepak, AOR Mr. T. N. Singh, AOR Mr. T. V. George, AOR Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR Mr. Rajesh Singh, AOR Mr. Hitesh Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Chawla, Adv. Mr. Akhileshwar Jha, Adv. Mr. Varun Varma, Adv. Mr. Chaman Sharma, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Vishan, Adv. Ms. Swati Vishan, Adv. Mr. Javed Raza, Adv. Mr. Shiva Nanad Sharma, Adv. Mr. Narendra Pal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Ishank Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Shubham Rajhans, Adv. Mr. Prakhar Shukla, Adv. Ms. Niharika Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Charanjeet Sidhu, Adv. Mr. Abhisek Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR Mr. Rathin Das, AOR Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR Ms. C. K. Sucharita, AOR Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. A. Sumathi, AOR Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR Ms. Divya Roy, AOR Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR Mr. Surya Kant, AOR Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Vikash Singh, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR M/s. V. Maheshwari & Co., AOR Mr. N. Naveen, Adv. Mr. K. Nagan Pillai, Adv. Mr. Mayank Aggarwal, AOR Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, AOR Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Ms. Bipasa Tripathy, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Suman Kukrety, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. P. K. Manohar, AOR Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Ms. Parul Shukla, AOR Mr. Abhishek Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar Umrao, AOR Mr. Arun K. Sinha, AOR Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Mr. Rajiv Kumar Choudhry, AOR Mr. Anurag Tandon, AOR Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Ms. Dr. Monika Gusain, Sr. Adv. Mr. B.K. Satija, A.A.G. Mr. Rahul Khurana, Adv. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Mr. Hariom Yaduvanshi, Adv. Mr. Arjun Yaduvanshi, Adv. Ms. S. Harini, Adv. Mr. Avi Dhankhar, Adv. Mr. Vansmani Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Aahana Jaiswal, Adv. Ms. Drishti Rawal, Adv. Ms. Pragya Upadhyay, Adv. Ms. Drishti Saraf, Adv. Mr. Omanakuttan K. K., AOR Mr. Ajit Sharma, AOR Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Neha Singh, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Sharma, AOR Mrs. Aishwrya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Uday Prakash Yadav, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sughosh Subramanium, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Mr. Krishna Ballabh Thakur, AOR Ms. Aruna Gupta, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Mr. Yusuf, AOR Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Applicant-in-person Mr. Anant Mann, AOR Mr. Lakshmeesh S. Kamath, AOR Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR Mr. Kushagra Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anuj Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Akarsh Khare, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. K. M. Nataraj Ld. Asg, A.S.G. Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Ms. Sunieta Ojha, AOR Mr. Dinesh Chandra Pandey, AOR Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, AOR Mr. Himinder Lal, AOR Ms. Shruti Jose, AOR Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Mr. Aman Gautam, Adv. Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR Mr. Atul Sharma, AOR Mr. Anirudh Sanganeria, AOR Mr. Chinmay Deshpande, Adv. Mr. Shrey Kapoor , AOR Ms. Anne Mathew, AOR Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Chinmoy Chaitanya, Adv. Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR Ms. Lakshmi N. Kaimal, AOR Mr. Subhasish Mohanty, AOR Mr Rahul Jain, AOR Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR M/s. D.s.k. Legal, AOR Ms. Shibani Ghosh, AOR Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Amogh Bansal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Rajeev Maheshwaranand Roy, AOR M/s. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Maninder Singh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Manika Tripathy, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Kaushik, Adv. Mr. Akash Mahor, Adv. Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Ms. Supreeta Sharanagouda, AOR Ms. Ranu Purohit, AOR Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv. Mr. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Dr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Verma, AOR Mr. Prakash Kumar Singh, AOR Ms. Tanya Srivastava, AOR Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR Mr. Sujit Kumar Mishra , AOR Mr. Aldanish Rein, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mr. Shantanu Kumar, AOR Mr. Nishanth Patil, AOR M/s. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Ms. Sugandha Anand, AOR Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.K. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Deeptakirti Verma, AOR Ms. Usha Nandini V., AOR Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Vivek Jain, AOR Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR Ms. Manisha, Adv. Ms. Rani Mishra, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Venkata Raghuvamsy D., AOR Ms. Swathi H. Prasad, AOR Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv. Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, AOR

Judgement Key Points

Key Points: - The Court holds that there is wilful disobedience of its orders regarding the Delhi Ridge and that concealment of material facts amounts to criminal contempt under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (!) (!) . - The judgment outlines that contempt proceedings can be purged by remedial measures and directs actions against DDA officials, including disciplinary proceedings and environmental penalties, while balancing public interest in CAPFIMS (!) (!) (!) . - It emphasizes the need for prior approvals for activities affecting ecologically sensitive areas, including FCA clearance, SEAC/SCNBWL approvals, and Tree Act permissions, and sets up a Committee to monitor compliance and restoration efforts (!) (!) (!) (!) (!) . - The Court discharges the rule, disposes of contempt petitions, and imposes directions for afforestation, monitoring, and reporting, including bi-annual compliance reports and penalties for involved officials (!) (!) (!) . - It acknowledges CAPFIMS public interest but cautions against ecological harm, and directs identification of beneficiaries for possible levies to fund remediation (!) (!) . - It requires the DDA to complete approach road projects with safeguards, and to ensure afforestation and ecological restoration under Court supervision (!) (!) . - It notes the role of the RMB and CEC in prior environmental governance and the need for future transparency in notifications and approvals (!) (!) .

What is the scope of contempt powers under Article 129 and Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 in cases of wilful disobedience of this Court's environmental protection orders?

What is the standard to determine whether DDA officials’ conduct constitutes wilful and deliberate contempt and what remedial measures purge contempt?

What are the appropriate remedial and preventive directions to ensure compliance with environmental protection mandates in Delhi Ridge cases?


JUDGMENT :

SURYA KANT, J.

1. The instant petition has been filed invoking Article 129 of the Constitution of India, Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, and Rule 3(c) of the Rules to Regulate Proceedings for Contempt of the Supreme Court, 1975. It prays for the initiation of contempt proceedings against the Respondents for wilful disobedience of this Court’s order dated 09.05.1996 passed in W.P. (C) No. 4677/1985, titled MC Mehta v. Union of India & Others.

2. These proceedings arise from a decades-long saga that is associated with a series of writ petitions, wherein this Court has consistently endeavoured to mitigate further environmental degradation in the National Capital Territory of Delhi and across the country.

A. FACTS

3. At this juncture, it becomes imperative to set out the sequence of events from the outset, in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the developments that have culminated into the present proceedings.

A.1 Brief background of the cases giving rise to the present controversy

3.1. MC Mehta (supra) is an ongoing matter comprising petitions through which this Court has pronounced several landmark judgments giving new dimensions to environmental ju

    Click Here to Read the rest of this document
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10
    11
    SupremeToday Portrait Ad
    supreme today icon
    logo-black

    An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers

    Please visit our Training & Support
    Center or Contact Us for assistance

    qr

    Scan Me!

    India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!

    For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :

    whatsapp-icon telegram-icon
    whatsapp-icon Back to top