The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) cannot take any action against retired Supreme Court (SC) justice and National Green Tribunal (NGT) head Swatanter Kumar in the sexual harassment complaint against him, as the charges are from when he was an SC judge, the MoEF told the SC, reported the Express.

The MoEF relied on the precedent set in the case of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson and former chief justice of India (CJI) KG Balakrishnan, and also sought deletion of its name as a party in the case of sexual harassment filed by Kumar’s former intern against him.