Mumbai: Supreme Court issues notice on plea against quashing of CRZ clearance

Quashing the CRZ clearance on July 16 after hearing a clutch of petitions, the High Court bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice N M Jamdar had underlined “a serious lacuna in the decision-making process” and “lack of proper scientific study”.

The project — envisaged to connect South Mumbai’s Marine Drive area to Kandivali in North Mumbai and decongest city traffic — was given the go-ahead in 2017 by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) and Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

The HC said the BMC cannot proceed with the works without obtaining environmental clearance under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification. In its 219-page judgment, the HC said, “It is obvious that a serious lacuna in the decision-making process has occurred. The lacuna is that neither MCZMA nor EIA nor MoEF took note of the fact that except for the environmental impact assessment study conducted by the consultants, all other reports themselves informed the recipient of the reports that they were not based on complete and exhaustive analysis of the data and material required to opine on the adverse environmental impact.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, senior counsel Gayatri Singh, who represented city-based architect Shweta Wagh along with eight other petitioners, and Worli Koliwada Nakhwa Matsya Vyavsay Sahakari Society Limited in the HC, said they would prepare a reply to the Special Leave Petition filed in the Supreme Court, and that it would be filed on August 20.

Wagh’s petition challenged the CRZ (Amendment) Notification of December 30, 2015, to the extent that it allowed land reclamation for roads on reclaimed surfaces. Worli Koliwada in their petition had stated that reclaiming the shoreline and construction of stilted roads for the project would affect the rights of fishing communities to pursue their livelihood.

Wagh told The Indian Express that Worli fishermen and other residents are monitoring if BMC is carrying out any further work. “We have been alerted that BMC was continuing some construction work despite HC order. Citizens will now be more vigilant,” Wagh said.

A senior BMC official from the Coastal Road Department said, “We will take legal opinion on the Supreme Court’s decision. After that further course of action will be decided. Till then the status of work will be the same.”

(with inputs from Mumbai)