The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on Wednesday granted conditional permission to Lavasa Corporation to complete its buildings at its housing project site near Pune.
The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on Wednesday granted conditional permission to Lavasa Corporation to complete its buildings at its housing project site near Pune, even as the realty firm backtracked on its plea to withdraw the petition challenging the stop-work
notice issued by the ministry.
According to the affidavit filed by the MoEF before the Bombay high court, its expert committee has “permitted” Lavasa Corporation to complete construction of 257 buildings which are above the plinth level at its lake city.
“In view of the investments made and taking note of the hardships faced by the petitioners (Lavasa) and pending construction of 257 buildings that are above plinth level, construction is permitted with some conditions,” the affidavit filed by the deputy director of the MoEF said.
The conditions include “no digging or hill-cutting, digging or excavation or any other activity involving generation of soil or its use or transportation”.
Simultaneously, senior counsels Mukul Rohatgi and Janak Dwarkadas, appearing for Lavasa, told the high court that the petitioner would like to withdraw their petition challenging the stop-work notice issued by the MoEF last year.
They told the court that Lavasa Corp would pursue its application filed before the MoEF seeking clearance for the housing project coming up in Pune district.
Lavasa, however, backtracked after the division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice RG Ketkar refused to lift the stay on the stop-work notice. The bench said let the MoEF hear Lavasa’s application and would take a final decision on it.
“Initially, we (Lavasa) had said that the MoEF has no jurisdiction to issue stop-work notice. But today, we agree that clearance from the ministry is required. Lavasa is losing Rs5 crore everyday since the construction has been stopped. Till date, the loss has been Rs300 crore,” Rohatgi submitted.
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