Mumbai: In yet another development versus environment dispute, the Bombay High Court ruled in favour of the former, considering the larger public interest.
This time, the HC has cleared the decks for the proposed international airport in Navi Mumbai, by allowing the cutting down of over 200 mangroves.
A bench of Justices Satyaranjan Dharmadhikari and Riyaz Chagla last week allowed an application filed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd. (CIDCO) seeking to cut 203 mangroves.
The application was made as the CIDCO had to construct three RCC bridges (reinforced cement concrete) and remove an existing bund, where the Ulwe Recourse Channel meets the Moha creek at Ulwe.
As per CIDCO, the site where the bridges would be constructed fall under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) I and II areas and a total of 2.1918 hectares of land would be affected by the construction.
In its plea, the CIDCO emphasised, it had obtained the requisite clearances for the proposed alignment of the Ulwe Recourse Channel, which would allow free flow of water into the Moha creek.
It claimed that the State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) had granted a 'conditional' clearance, asking it to plant 2,030 trees, which would be the equivalent of 10 times the number of trees felled.
Despite having all the clearances, the CIDCO was bound to move the HC owing to a detailed judgment passed by Justice Abhay Oka, who had imposed a blanket ban on cutting of mangroves in Maharashtra.
He had, however, allowed cutting of mangroves subject to the approval of the HC, as this exercise would help ascertain whether or not the authorities were scrupulously implementing the principles of sustainable development.
Referring to the orders of another bench staying destruction of mangroves, the bench led by Justice Dharmadhikari said, “The order provides that mangroves cannot be permitted to be destroyed by the state for private, commercial or any other use unless this court finds it necessary for the public good or public interest.”
“The present project is for the construction of three RCC bridges and the removal of bund situated in Moha creek for the purpose of the effective implementation of a greenfield international airport, Navi Mumbai project.
Thus the present project is necessarily for the public good and in public interest,” the judges highlighted.
The bench further said that in the past too, other HC benches have allowed destruction of mangroves for public projects. “Considering that similar permissions have previously been granted by this court in fit cases where the project proponents have sought to execute projects of bona fide public utility, permission in this case would also be required to be granted.
We accordingly permit the CIDCO to carry out the construction and related activities for the purpose of the effective implementation of a greenfield international airport, Navi Mumbai project,” the court held.
