ET reports a rather unfortunate move by the Environment Ministry of approving Lavasa Corporation's hill township project, even though the construction is unauthorized and is in grave violation of Environmental Laws. The terms and conditions imposed on Lavasa include the payment of substantial penalty for violating environmental norms and the setting up of an independent environment restoration fund.
Trident (Legal Firm) takes its readers back to the genesis of the controversy.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests issued a show cause notice dated 25.11.2010 under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act for violating the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 1994 as amended in 2004 & 2006 to Lavasa Corporation Ltd. The original show cause is available here.
The notification as originally stood introduced environment clearance by the State or the Central Government and imposed restrictions and prohibitions on the expansion and modernization of any activity or undertaking of new projects. In 2004 , new construction projects were brought within the ambit of the notification and construction projects which were undertaken without obtaining the clearance under the original notification and where construction work had not come up to the plinth level, required approval with effect from 7th July 2004. Also in the same notification new industrial estates which were undertaken without a clearance or where work did not commence or where the expenditure did not exceed 25% of the total sanctioned costs were also brought within the ambit of the notification .
