Govt depts should have acted earlier,say Adarsh members

Members say since the building was under construction in 2009,they could have still applied for MoEF clearance by paying the requisite penalty. “Why is the society being made to pay for a lapse committed by the state urban development department?” asked a former defence official,who is also a member of the society.

The bone of contention all along has been a March 2003 letter by the then UD deputy secretary P V Deshmukh to construction sanctioning bodies such as the BMC and MMRDA,informing them that the project had got a no-objection certificate from the MoEF. Deshmukh,who also owns a flat in Adarsh,has been accused of deliberately misconstruing a letter from the MoEF which said,“This ministry has already delegated the powers to the state government for undertaking development in Coastal Regulation Zone -II. Accordingly,the proposed construction may be taken up as per the CRZ Notification,1991,and the approved revised Coastal Zone Management Plan of Greater Mumbai.”

At that point of time,all projects in CRZ areas had to be scanned by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) and approved by the state environment department. The MoEF’s final orders for demolition of Adarsh mention that state revenue minister Sitaram Kunte had deposed before it stating that “there was a clear misinterpretation of the response given by the MoEF dated March 11,2003,by the deputy secretary,UD department.”

It was only after the NGO’s complaint that the state environment department realised it had no documents relating to Adarsh society. Replying to the society’s allegations about inaction,environment department officials said they did not get back as the matter was referred to the UD department after the society said that the latter had granted the permission.

“Without checking facts from UD department,environment department could not reply. UD replied in October 2010 after which our department referred the matter to the MoEF as per orders,” said the official,adding that the society was also informed by the revenue department order in 2005 that clearance from MoEF is mandatory.

Under the CRZ notification 1991,the project proponent needs to submit the proposal with details of construction and classification of CRZ area in the stated format to the MCZMA. “The MoEF has made it very clear in its order that ignorance of law is not an excuse. Deshmukh might have done what he did out of some vested interest,but as per law it is upon the project proponent to get the permissions and not the state UD department. If the society defaulted on something,they cannot blame the government for it,” said an official from the UD department.

‘OC given after receipt of all documents’
Giving itself a clean chit,the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said it issued the occupation certificate (OC) to Adarsh society in Colaba “and on receipt of all pre-requisites in terms of documents and plans as required under the Development Control Rules”.

The MMRDA in its affidavit filed before the Bombay HC recently said between July and September 2010,it received letters from the Navy addressed to the state government asking for a list of members of Adarsh society for security screening. The letters also asked that no OC should be issued until the security clearance is granted by the Navy. MMRDA said since there were no specific directions from the state government and since all documents were in order,OC was issued to the society on September 16,2010.

The MMRDA has been the Special Planning Authority for Backbay Reclamation Scheme Block 3 to Block 6 since 1983. All along proposals for construction permissions were routed through both the MMRDA as well as the BMC,which sanctions building permissions. The affidavit mentions that as per the revised procedure,from 2009 it was decided that all development permissions from commencement certificate to OC shall be issued by the MMRDA alone. Only NOCs pertaining to fire safety,water supply and drainage/sewage were to be issued by the BMC.