By IANS,
New Delhi: The environment ministry Thursday said it did not issue any Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance or no-objection certificate (NOC) to Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society in Mumbai for the construction of a residential building.
Reacting to media reports that it issued NOC to the housing society in March 2003, the ministry said it was the Maharashtra environment department which approved the project.
“In March 2003, all construction in the CRZ area were considered by Maharashtra State Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA),” it said.
“To obtain clearance under CRZ Notification, 1991 the project proponent needs to submit the proposal enclosing the details of construction, classification of CRZ area in the requisite format and submitted to the concerned coastal zone management authority. In this case this proposal should have been submitted to the MCZMA,” it said.
According to ministry, the power to issue of CRZ clearance was withdrawn in April 2003 for projects costing more than Rs.5 crore for the reason that the state governments were misusing the powers and permitting constructions in non-permissible area.
Recently, allegations were made that some top civil and defence officials had grabbed the plot meant for war widows and defence veterans in Mumbai.
The building of contention is the 100-metre-tall Adarsh Housing Society — a 31-storeyed building. Its flat owners include former army and navy chiefs, top civil and defence officials and politicians.