Mahabaleshwar environment violations: HC orders action

MUMBAI, February 10: The Bombay High Court has ordered the municipal COUNCILS of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani region to initiate action against t...

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MUMBAI, February 10: The Bombay High Court has ordered the municipal COUNCILS of Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani region to initiate action against the 1,000-odd alleged violators of environmental town-planning regulations.

Advocate General A V Sawant today appeared before a division bench of Chief Justice M B Shah and R J Kochar to assure quick action in the matter. The court ordered that the concerned civic authorities should issue show cause notices to hotel owners and other respondent parties who have indulged in illegal constructions or any other activity which disturbed the environmental balance of the hill station.

The HC directed the chief executive officers of both the municipalities and the Satara collector, Vandana Khullar, to give a hearing to each erring hotel owner and report to the court on March 17, following which the court will pass a ruling. The court directive comes in the wake of a petition filed by Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG). The respondent s in the petition include the stategovernment, Satara Collector, Pune Divisional Commissioner and several holiday resort owners.

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Following the filing of the petition, the government had appointed an expert committee to look into the possibility of violations. The panel not only acknowledged the violations but also gave a break up of the illegal ventures. As per the report, there were 559 illegal constructions, of which 402 were major violations.

About 35 farm houses were built in violation of building rules and there were 486 illegal transfers of land.BEAG counsel Iqbal Chagla today urged for a time-bound action programme. “If the report of a government-appointed committee has acknowledged the violations and illegal constructions, why is the government not taking action against the erring hotel owners who have built multi-storeyed resorts,” Chagla said. He also objected to a “suspicious” government building at Wilson Point in Mahabaleshwar.

However, Advocate General Sawant said the structure is a complex with water treatment plant,staff quarters and other non-controversial constituents.