Common Cause Case Updates
Writ for Supreme Court Directions on Police Reforms (W.P. (C) 310/1996)
The battle for police reforms has been going on for the last 26 years. The Supreme Court in 2006, gave a historic judgement in the petition filed by Prakash Singh, Common Cause, and NK Singh. Since then, it has been a struggle to get the Court’s directions implemented. On July 3, 2018, responding to an interlocutory application filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the appointment of acting Director General of Police (DGP) in the states, the Supreme Court gave a slew of directions to ensure that there were no distortions in such appointments. It laid down that the states shall send their proposals to the UPSC three months prior to the retirement of the incumbent DGP. The UPSC shall then prepare a panel of three officers so that the state can appoint one of them as DGP. In October 2022 and December 2022, the Court entertained applications filed by the State of Nagaland and the UPSC to finalise the names of DGP for the state.
In January 2023, the matter was listed twice, when the Court decided on the IA filed by the State of Nagaland on appointment of DGP. This matter was listed several times. On March 25, 2025 after hearing the counsels for the petitioners, the bench directed that an advance copy of the contempt petitions be served on the nominated/standing counsel for the State of Jharkhand. Mr. Prashant Bhushan, stated that he filed I.A. Nos. 150155/2023 and 67359/2023 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 310/1996 on behalf of the petitioner, Prakash Singh, seeking appropriate orders/directions as to compliance and for modification of the order(s) of this Court, which have been registered, but were not listed. Registry was directed by the bench to examine and list these applications on the next date and listed all pleas for hearing in the week commencing May 5, 2025. Despite clear directions, implementation across states has remained inconsistent, resulting in recurring contempt and compliance proceedings before the Court.
On July 28, 2025, the court issued notice in IA No.150155/2023 & 67359/2023 in W.P. (C) NO. 310/1996. On August 18, 2025, the Court declined to entertain one of the contempt petitions, observing that the dispute appeared to arise from inter-personal rivalry between officers rather than a matter of public interest. This matter was listed several times from October 2025 till February 12, 2026. Two contempt petitions filed against the states of Telangana and Tamil Nadu were considered by the Court. The Court once again reiterated its previous order and directed that the states comply with their previous directions. The matter was ordered to be listed on March 9, 2026.
M.A. in Writ petition on Illegal Mining in Odisha (M.A. 18/2025)
In January 2025, Common Cause filed a Miscellaneous Application (MA) in the writ petition on Illegal Mining in Odisha. The MA prayed for directions to the State of Odisha to expedite the recovery/ attachment proceedings on an urgent basis by complying with directions contained in previous orders passed by the Supreme Court and to take immediate action to pursue all available remedies before the appropriate forum (Division bench of High Court or SLP before this Hon’ble Court) to have unfavourable orders reversed or altered. The MA was listed several times in January, February, March, April and May 2025.
The IA filed by Common Cause on February 23, 2023, focused on getting directives issued for the Union of India and the State of Odisha to impose limits on the extraction of minerals and on constituting a committee of two or three independent experts to suggest and recommend such limits and submit its report in a time-bound manner. The matter was disposed of by the Supreme Court on May 7, 2025.
The IA also sought an updated status report on the amount of penalty deposited by the lessees, including the amount to be recovered, lease-wise details of the ore reserve, extraction permitted, the current status of the mining lease, total iron ore reserves and total permitted extraction in the State as directed in the judgment dated August 2, 2017. Significantly, the Supreme Court granted Common Cause, the petitioner, the liberty to file an independent writ petition for the same relief, which had been sought in the IA. The Court also granted our request that the State of Odisha be called upon to file a status report regarding the points referred to in paragraphs 3 and 6 of the SC’s order dated March 5, 2025, which is the prayer in the MA as well.
On July 28, 2025, Notice was issued, and Common Cause was granted liberty to serve the same through the Standing Counsel for the State. The MA was tagged with the Writ against the State of Odisha (W.P.(C) No. 675/2025) filed by Common Cause. Subsequent hearings on September 2 and September 17, 2025, addressed compliance issues, including extension of mining leases and joint inspection of mines.
On December 10, 2025, the Court noted that several writ petitions challenging recovery proceedings are pending before the High Court with interim stays. Given the substantial public revenue involved, the State of Odisha was granted the liberty to move an application before the Chief Justice of Odisha High Court by December 19, 2025, and the High Court was requested to assign all such writ petitions to a dedicated Bench for final disposal by the end of March 2026 If final decisions are not possible by March 31, 2026, the Bench should at least decide Odisha’s requests to vacate or modify the stays. In cases without any stay, Odisha may proceed with recovery as per law. The Court directed that status report be filed on or before April 2, 2026. And Miscellaneous Application and the connected matters be relisted in the second week of April 2026. This matter was taken up on March 24, 2026, when due to demise of the previous amicus curiae, Mr. Rao, new amicus Mr. Gautam Narayan was appointed by the court, and the parties were directed to provide all documents to Mr. Narayan. The State of Odisha was directed to file affidavit in compliance of the order dated December 10, 2025, and the registry was directed to list the matter on April 21, 2026.
Writ against State of Odisha (W.P.(C) No. 675/2025)
On May 7, 2025, the Supreme Court, in M.A. No. 18 of 2025, disposed of an earlier interlocutory application, granting liberty to Common Cause to file an independent writ petition for similar reliefs. Pursuant to this liberty, Common Cause filed the writ petition on July 8, 2025, seeking the following directions: (a) Constitution of a committee of independent experts to recommend a limit to be imposed on the extraction of iron and manganese ore in the State of Odisha to ensure environmental sustainability and Inter-generational equity, and submit its report in a time-bound manner; and (b) Direction to the Respondents to impose a limit on the extraction of iron and manganese ore in Odisha based on the aforesaid expert committee report.
Notice was issued on July 28, 2025, and Common Cause was granted liberty to serve the same through the Standing Counsel for the State. The matter was tagged with the previous miscellaneous application (M.A. 18/2025) filed by Common Cause. On July 29, 2025, during the hearing, the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the State of Odisha’s failure to file a counter-affidavit.
On September 17, 2025, the Supreme Court considered an interim application filed by a lessee, wherein the State’s counter affidavit disclosed that the validity of the mining lease in question had been extended COMMON CAUSE | Vol. XLV No. 1 January-March, 2026 | 39 up to April 16, 2036, subject to general conditions and statutory clearances. The Court allowed the mining to resume only after verification of all clearances by the competent officer, and directed a joint inspection involving the State’s Mining Department to determine the quantity and quality of iron ore. Following the inspection, the lessee was granted four months to sell the ore under the supervision of State officers, with proceeds adjusted against penalties from prior proceedings and deposited with the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The State was further directed to initiate auction proceedings in accordance with the law.
The counter affidavit filed by the State stated that, in relation to certain leases in Raikela, Bhanaba, and Tensa villages of Sundargarh District, the applicant had deposited the compensation amount under Section 21(5) of the MMDR Act, 1957, including interest for delayed payment, pursuant to the Supreme Court’s order dated August 2, 2017.
On October 14, 2025 Common Cause submitted that despite multiple opportunities granted to the respondent, State of Odisha, neither counter affidavit has been filed nor has the status report with regard to recovery process been placed before the Court. The Court granted one last opportunity to the State to file counter affidavit and the status report by October 27, 2025.
On October 29, 2025, the Court expressed serious displeasure over the State not being diligent enough to recover the dues running into crores of rupees. Time was granted to the State of Odisha to file a better counter by December 1, 2025. The counter filed by Ministry of Environment of Forest and Climate Change was taken on record. The Ministry of Mines was directed to file its counter, and the petitioners were directed to file respective rejoinders. On February 10, 2026, the Court observed “We find that the writ petition involves a prayer of the petitioner – Common Cause for imposing a cap on mining operations. Since this is an independent writ petition, we direct its de-tagging from the batch of matters.” The matter was directed to be re-listed on 18th March 2026.
Petition Seeking Directions to Implement the Recommendations of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan, 2020 (W.P. (C) 228/2019)
This writ petition was filed jointly by Common Cause, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), and Jindal Naturecure Institute seeking implementation of the recommendations contained in the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan, 2020, promulgated in 2012 by the Ministry of Heavy Industries, and the “Zero Emission Vehicles: Towards a Policy Framework” report released by NITI Aayog in 2019. The petition aims to ensure policy-level action to curb climate change, reduce air pollution, and minimise India’s dependency on fossil fuel imports. On March 5, 2019, the Supreme Court directed the Union of India to apprise it of the progress made under the FAME-India Scheme. Upon hearing on July 22, 2024, the Court granted four weeks to the Union of India to file a counter affidavit detailing policy measures adopted to promote electric vehicles and directed that the Attorney General assist the Court. On April 22, 2025, the government sought more time to place on record its policy decisions. On May 14, 2025, the Attorney General submitted that inter-ministerial deliberations were ongoing and requested additional time to reach a consensus. The Court directed the petitioners and intervenors to submit suggestions to the Attorney General for transmission to the concerned Ministry. The matter is listed for further hearing on November 13, 2025. This matter was taken up on November 13, 2025, when the Attorney General submitted that thirteen Ministries were actively participating in the project meant for the promotion and adoption of electric vehicles in the country. The Court directed that the matter be listed on January 13, 2026, however, the matter could not be taken up.
