The order comes in the wake of a special leave petition filed by Kophrad village panchayat sarpanch Manvel Tuskano and other villagers. The direction is given by the bench of Chief Justice Adarsh Sein Anand, Justice K T Thomas and Justice Sreenivasan. The apex court has directed CIDCO, planning authority for the Vasai-Virar region, to protect the natural environment of the distant suburbs which are being increasingly inhabited by new settlers from Mumbai.

The order is significant in the light of numerous housing complexes dotting these suburbs, many of which lack adequate infrastructural facilities. The new buildings have an inevitable adverse effect on the natural resources of theregion, especially the green zone marked as per town planning rules.In the case of 20 completed buildings in Paranjpe Nagar, the court has directed the builder to provide drinking water on a priority basis, and that too from water tankers and not from the local wells. CIDCO has been ordered to monitor the sources of the drinking water supply to the entire Paranjpe Nagar.

The court had appointed a commissioner to survey the adverse effects of Paranjpe Nagar's construction activity at Kophrad. It was then found that debris accumulated near the construction site was blocking the sanitation outlets in the village. Moreover, there was water logging in adjoining agricultural plots. Drainage water from the housing complex was seeping into the playground of the nearby St Joseph High School. Therefore, the court directed the respondent construction company to build a canal along the south boundary to allow the water to drain. The existing drain is also to be desilted to facilitate water flow.

Two years ago,Tuskano and other petitioners had moved the Bombay High Court against the ill-effects of construction work at Paranjpe Nagar. The high court stayed construction, but the stay was lifted and the villagers then moved the apex court on the construction activity. They pointed out that CIDCO had given its go-ahead to the Paranjpe construction company despite a policy of not allowing construction beyond one and a half kms from the railway track. The government has decided to allow development in the green zone only to contain the natural growth in population, and not for any commercial construction activity. The petitioners also complained that CIDCO did not take local settlers into confidence before sanctioning such a major private housing project.