Case before Pune court over violation of green rules.
Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) chairman and managing director Ajit Gulabchand found himself in the dock, with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board on Friday filing criminal proceedings against the promoters, directors and sundry other officials of Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of HCC.
Lavasa, which is developing a hill city project in Maharashtra, has been charged under Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, for carrying out construction and development on 22,000 sq mt without obtaining clearance.
Section 15 envisages a penalty of Rs 1 lakh and/or imprisonment of up to five years for those deemed guilty. If the failure or contravention referred to continues beyond a year after the date of conviction, the offender shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years.
A case was filed on Friday before a Chief Judicial Magistrate in Pune against Gulabchand, directors Anuradha Desai, Gautam Thapar and Anirudha Deshpande, power of attorney holder Vitthal Maniyar and 11 others .
Lavasa, however, downplayed on Friday’s action, saying it was the only precondition coming in the way of the project getting environment clearance from the ministry of environment and forests. An MPCB official told Business Standard it was the first infrastructure/construction project where such a criminal proceeding had been initiated. He, however, said it was a bailable offence where the court would give Gulabchand and 14 others an opportunity to plead their case and then give a ruling on bail. Chief Judicial Magistrate N T Ghatge said the MPCB application would be scrutinised before initiating a further process. The matter will come up before the court on Tuesday.
The state government had on Thursday directed MPCB to implement environment laws and rules to take action against Lavasa. The state directive came following the Bombay High Court’s order to take ‘credible action’ against the company.
In its order in October last year, the Union environment ministry had said it was willing to regularise the project but the developers would have to meet certain riders. This includes action by the state government, besides setting up an environment restoration fund, a commitment to not further violate green norms and a revised plan.
A Lavasa Corporation spokesperson said in compliance with the preconditions set by the ministry, the Maharashtra government had taken necessary action by filing a complaint in the magistrate’s court, Pune. “It is unfortunate that the state government, which had itself granted environment clearance to Lavasa in 2004, has had to initiate this action. Such an action was the only precondition coming in the way of the project getting environment clearance from the environment ministry. We wish to reiterate that Lavasa Corporation Limited has adhered to laws of the land at all times and will continue to do so in the future.” Work on Lavasa had been stopped by the ministry since November 25 last year.
