Old violators not exempt under new CRZ rules

Ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has asked state-level agencies to report all violations of coastal buffer zone rules within four months and initiate action in another four.

The directive was issued soon after the coastal management authorities got new powers under Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011.

The MoEF had promised action against violations under the superseded law when it brought out the new one.

Under the new rules, the government agencies — both at the Centre and state — will have to be more active in detecting violations. Under the 1991 rules, Ramesh said powers and responsibilities of the agencies were further limited.

The new directive is for detecting violations under the old law as many such violations will no longer be counted as such under the revamped norms.
In other words, buildings constructed violating norms before January 2011 will have to be demolished, even if they can be rebuilt according to current rules.

When quizzed on the logic behind initiating new action against violations of a non-existent law, Ramesh had said he did not want the new law to be an excuse for violators to go scot-free.