Raze Adarsh Society: Jairam Ramesh

In an unprecedented order, the environment ministry on Sunday declared the controversial Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai “illegal” and asked the developers to demolish the structure and restore the site to its original form within three months. Chetan Chauhan reports. Read report | End of the storey? | Interview: Jairam Ramesh

Updated on: Jan 17, 2011, 02:12:44 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

In an unprecedented order, the Union environment ministry on Sunday declared the controversial Adarsh Housing Society in Colaba in south Mumbai “illegal” and asked the project developers to demolish the structure and restore the site to its original form within three months.

If the society fails to raze the structure, the ministry said it would get it demolished.

The ministry said the 31-storey building, the scam around which cost former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan his job, violated coastal regulation zone (CRZ) norms.

Hindustan Times was first to report on January 13 that environment minister Jairam Ramesh had declared the building illegal and the ministry is likely to order its demolition. ( Read: Ramesh speaks exclusively to HT )

“Adarsh society has violated the very spirit of the CRZ Notification 1991, by not even acknowledging the need for clearance under this notification...ignorance of law can never be an excuse for non-compliance,” Ramesh said in a statement.

It is unlikely that the building will be demolished immediately because the society plans to challenge Ramesh’s order in the Bombay high court.

The minister had two other options — asking the government to take over the building for public use and declaring only unauthorised parts illegal. The notification allows the construction of six floors.

Ramesh opted to declare the entire structure illegal because the society had failed to take approvals for constructing a 31-storey complex under the CRZ notification.

Meant for war widows and defence personnel, Adarsh society came under the scanner following allegations that it had violated environment norms and had given politicians and bureaucrats flats in the building in return for clearances.

The ministry has found the Adarsh society guilty of violations on two counts.

First, the society failed to seek a CRZ clearance as directed by the environment ministry in its letter of March 2003. Second, the floor space index granted to the building was higher than that stipulated in CRZ regulations, despite the society’s claim that the FSI was within stipulated limits.

The society had claimed that CRZ approval was not required, an argument the ministry found untenable. “The society has said in its written admission that permission under CRZ was required quoting the ministry’s 2003 letter,” said Nalini Bhat, adviser to the environment ministry in her order in the case.

The ministry also held officials of Maharashtra’s urban development department responsible for “misinterpreting” its letter in 2003, which said approval under CRZ was required. The department had said the letter was a “no-objection letter” for the building. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority confirmed this.

The ministry has also found that the complex was initially meant for 50 people —19 civilians and 31 defence personnel — but the number was increased to 71 in 2004 and 92 in 2005.

The ministry’s order shows the builder-bureaucrat nexus in violating norms meant to protect the coast but it did not examine how the structure was built despite all these violations and who facilitated its construction. That is for the CBI to look into, Ramesh said.

Read report | End of the storey? | Exclusive interview: Jairam Ramesh

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all the Breaking News and Latest News from Mumbai. Click here for comprehensive coverage of top Cities including Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and more across India along with Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News.