Show-cause notice issued to Lavasa, says Jairam Ramesh

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh today said a show-cause notice was issued to Lavasa as the ministry felt the company was violating forest conservation and environment laws in its city building project near Pune.

"The show-cause notice was sent because in the view of my ministry, existing laws of forest conservation and environment protection had been violated," Ramesh told reporters in Mumbai.

Denying that there was any bias or prejudice in issuing the show-cause to the company, he said, "When the reply comes, we will follow procedures as per law. No decision will be taken arbitrarily. Lavasa will be given a chance to put forth their point. Action would be taken after due consideration."

He said the priority of his ministry was to monitor implementation of environment laws passed by Parliament.

When asked about the Adarsh Housing Society, Ramesh said the lawyers have replied to the show-cause notice.

Meanwhile, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said an FIR has been filed into the key missing papers related to the Adarsh society from the urban development ministry.

"Investigations are on and action would be taken against the guilty," he added.

Chavan informed that an internal inquiry into the issue is also in progress.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra home minister RR Patil today said in Sangli that state police will conduct a detailed inquiry in to "lost" documents related to Adarsh Housing Socity scam.