Lavasa case: Court issues process,sets date for officials

The judge issued the order while hearing a complaint filed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) on November 4,as per directions of the Bombay High Court. According to MPCB legal counsel D T Deole,after the issue process order,the court will issue summons directing them to be present in court on or before January 30,2012. The process has been issued under Section 15 (penalty for contravention of provision of Environment Protection Act and rules,order and directions) read with section 16 of the Environment Protection Act,1986.

Advocate P Narayan,the counsel for Lavasa,said the decision on whether to appeal against the order will be taken after receiving a copy of the order and discussing with his client.

The maximum punishment under section 15 is five-year imprisonment or fine of Rs 1 lakh or both.

MPCB regional director P K Mirashe is the complainant in the case.

Prior to issuing the order,the court had ordered MPCB to submit the entire file on Lavasa Corporation Limited prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to verify names of directors and the allegations.

The court,meanwhile,rejected the application by farmer Dnyaneshwar Shedge of Mugaon seeking permission to be a witness in the case claiming he had lost his land to Lavasa.

The second application was by Hemant Patil,who claims to be an environment activist. He had sought permission to be a complainant claiming his land in Dasave village was likely to be affected by the project.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had asked the state,through a letter on June 10,to take action against Lavasa for alleged environmental violations in 681 hectares of the 2,000 hectare project in Mulshi taluka (Pune).