NGT clears Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project, cites ‘strategic importance’

New Delhi: A Bench of the National Green Tribunal on Monday (February 16, 2026) cleared the way for the ₹92,000 crore Great Nicobar Island mega-infrastructure project, noting that “considering the strategic importance” of it and “other relevant considerations”, “we do not find any good ground to interfere”. It disposed of applications related to the Environment Clearance (EC) for the project, with a direction to authorities “to ensure full and strict compliance of EC conditions”. The Bench was hearing a batch of applications related to the EC granted for the project in 2022. While hearing this challenge to the EC, the NGT in 2023 called for the formation of a High-Powered Committee to address certain issues related to the protection of coral colonies, nesting sites of leatherback turtles, and parts of the project allegedly falling within ecologically protected zones.

The applicants in the present case argued that the government had erred in limiting the terms of reference for the HPC to three issues, which were “truncated and factually incorrect.” They added that the issues of protecting corals, nesting sites, and project areas entering protected zones had not been properly examined. The applicants also called for the report of the HPC to be made public. In the order pronounced on Monday (February 16, 2026), the NGT said that “adequate safeguards” had been provided in the conditions specified in the EC, which the Tribunal had already refused to interfere with in its 2023 order. The NGT added that the remaining issues had “been dealt with” by the HPC in its exercise to revisit the EC conditions. The NGT Bench, headed by the Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, noted that it found no error in the drafting of the terms of reference for the HPC, adding that the petitioners did not point out “any other substantial issue” that should have been examined by the HPC. Further, noting the Union government’s stance against the HPC report’s public disclosure, given that it is “of strategic, defence and national importance and has confidential and privileged information”, the NGT said, “The above disclosures reveal that the project is very important for India from the strategic point of view.”