Contempt notice to Cidco for failure to hand over mangrove land to Maharashtra forest department
Environmentalists have issued a contempt notice to planning agency City Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (Cidco) for failure to hand over mangrove land under
Environmentalists have issued a contempt notice to planning agency City Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (Cidco) for failure to hand over mangrove land under its jurisdiction to the Maharashtra forest department. A similar notice was also issued to the state urban development and environment departments to look into why Cidco has failed to hand over the mangrove land.
The notice issued to six top Cidco officials, including the vice-chairman and managing director, joint directors and the law officer directs the planning agency to assess the extent of mangrove area and hand it over to the state within seven days or non-compliance would entail civil and criminal contempt proceedings against Cidco under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.
Petitioners before the Bombay high court (HC) in various matters pertaining to mangrove and wetland conservation, environment group Vanashakti, issued the legal notice on Friday.
“Despite the state mangrove cell repeatedly writing to Cidco to handover mangroves to the forest department, the agency has remained silent on many occasions and this conduct is nothing short of holding themselves above the law. Such high-handedness will be brought up before courts if Cidco again chooses to remain tight-lipped,” said Zaman Ali, counsel for Vanashakti and advocate, HC.
The notice cited orders passed by the HC on October 6, 2005, that mangrove areas on government-owned lands, including those belonging to state agencies such as Cidco, needed to be handed over to the forest department within a period of 12 weeks from the declaration of the same as protected forests. HC reiterated its order on September 18, 2018.
“Years of non-compliance of orders of the HC cannot be condoned,” said Stalin D, director, Vanashakti, and member of a HC appointment committee on preservation of mangroves.
He added that non-cooperation from bodies like Cidco was primarily responsible for the delay. “We have time and again reminded the forest department to take custody of mangrove areas but they have not been able to do so due to the non-cooperation from urban development bodies like Cidco. Even the HC-appointed committee had directed almost a year ago to comply with the HC orders. Now we have no option but to seek judicial intervention which we will do.”
The notice further alleged that Cidco, appointed as the special planning authority for the Navi Mumbai new town project, had omitted land occupied by mangroves near villages of Kunde, Wahal, and Dapoli in Raigad district in its final development plan (DP).
“We have asked Cidco to initiate steps to modify and amend the DP precisely demarcating all mangrove forest lands and follow-up with the transfer of said areas to the forest department,” said Stalin.
Priya Ratmabe, public relations officer, Cidco said, “The entire matter is under examination by Cidco. It is being studied by different departments, and we can comment on the matter after due consideration.”
Another Cidco official requesting anonymity said, “There has been no study so far to examine the exact mangrove area within our jurisdiction, and neither has there been any decision to undertake such a study yet. However, some mangrove areas have been marked in certain DPs as green zones.”
Maharashtra has 15,312.6 hectare (ha) mangroves on government land, declared as reserved forests. However, 13,716.7 ha land has been handed over to the forest department by seven Konkan districts, and the majority of the 1,592.8 ha of remaining mangroves land remains with Raigad district (1,195 ha).
In addition to this, approximately 2,000-ha land held by planning authorities such as Mumbai metropolitan regional development authority (MMRDA), Cidco, Maharashtra industrial development corporation (MIDC), Maharashtra housing and area development authority (Mhada), and various municipal corporations have neither been measured nor handed over.
On September 18, state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray had directed all Konkan district collectors and state agencies to transfer mangrove areas under their jurisdiction to the forest department for declaration as reserved forest within two months. So far, the Maharashtra tourism development corporation (MTDC) is the only state agency which will be handing over 500-acre of mangrove area across the Manori-Gorai belt within a month.
