HC warns builder over construction on CRZ-protected wetland in Nerul

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has put a private developer on notice for a massive construction project – both residential and commercial – in Pockets D and E of Nerul, Navi Mumbai. The project allegedly violates the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules and the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MTRP) Act.

It is alleged that the project received its commencement certificate (CC) from City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), and not Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), under whose administrative jurisdiction the plot falls.

In a warning to the builder – Mistry Constructions – the HC has said that any work being carried out on-site may be subject to the outcome of the petition filed by Navi Mumbai resident Sunil Agarwal seeking to halt construction on the upmarket Palm Beach Road, next to the Seawoods NRI complex. It is contiguous with the NRI and Talawe wetlands, which are important flamingo habitats.

“Pocket ­A and Pocket ­D are wetlands under both 2010 and 2017 Wetland Rules,” the HC observed in November 2018, in response to a PIL filed by Agarwal. In an affidavit submitted to the HC, the state forest department maintained that Pocket D, “...is low lying and contains tidal water. Sparse mangroves are seen on the fringes. Several birds, including flamingos, visit the area. It is a water body as per the map and as per field observation.”

HT has previously reported in detail the alleged CRZ violations, but Agarwal’s latest petition brings to the fore other apparent procedural lapses, which the NMMC in a recent affidavit before the court said are “baseless”. Agarwal has alleged that CIDCO wrongly issued a CC for the project, and has sought permission to be recalled. To this end, his PIL relies on a past order by the HC from 2012, which holds that “in no unclear terms the grant of development permission under MRTP Act is for NMMC to grant and CIDCO has no role to play in the grant of such permission.” Agarwal has also questioned why it took the NMMC 10 months since the alleged illegal construction began to approach the developer for clarification.

“NMMC on August 30, 2022, issued a notice to Mistry Constructions objecting to the construction undertaken without seeking permission from the Corporation. To this, the developer produced a permission letter issued by CIDCO in February 2021 which purports to be an ‘amended commencement certificate’, based on which construction began in October 2021,” Agarwal said to Hindustan Times.

“If you look at public records, CIDCO has issued several commencement certificates to projects in nodes like Dronagiri, which are under their jurisdiction, but only to Mistry Constructions in Nerul, which is under the NMMC. This is highly suspect. They should have directed, and the NMMC is equally complicit as they are not acting on the evidence we have shown them,” he added.

This issue has not been raised by Agarwal alone. In September last year, a city-based NGO filed an intervention application in a related petition (by Agarwal) currently pending in the Supreme Court. “(CIDCO) has both, allotted the aforesaid land parcels in Nerul as well as granted commencement certificates in respect of the same, whilst stating that no CRZ clearance is required... It is unscrupulous that a company such as CIDCO, which was entrusted with the allotment of lands in 1971 and required government approval for such allotment, should now subvert the provisions of the CRZ, 2011 and the MRTP Act, 1966, and act as authority to grant development permissions/certificates/environmental clearances to the project proponent,” Vanashakti’s application states.

Despite attempts by HT, SB Kulkarni, the project authority at Mistry Constructions was unavailable for comment. Senior officials in NMMC and CIDCO declined to comment, citing that the matter is sub-judice.