Close to five months after reserving judgment, the Bombay High Court has finally delivered a verdict on the demolition of the Adarsh Society building..In a 223-page judgment, Justices Ranjit More and RG Ketkar not only ruled that the housing society violated a number of laws, but also came down harshly on a number of top-ranking officials and ministers. The judgment, authored by Justice Ketkar, also imposed costs totalling six lac on the housing society..Here is a low-down on all the Bombay High Court said, and did not say..1. Did the Bombay High Court order the demolition of the Adarsh building?.Yes. However, what the High Court actually did was uphold a 2011 order passed by the then Minster of State for Environment, Jayram Ramesh, who ordered the demolition of the building. This decision, dated January 16, 2011 was itself based on an order for removing the building “in its entirety” passed by Dr. Nalini Bhatt (the Competent Authority appointed by the MoEF), which was reiterated by Bharat Bhushan, the Director at MoEF..The Bombay High Court also heavily relied on the report prepared by the Justice JA Patil Commission, which was constituted to examine the Adarsh society matter. The report not only traces the constitution of the Adarsh society (right from 1994 with RC Thakur as the Chief Promoter) to the eventual identification of the plot in 2000 to allowing non-defence personnel to be allotted flats in the society..And not only did the Court uphold the 2011 order of demolition, it also held that there were several irregularities in the construction, and allotment of flats in the housing society..In Para 373, the High Court notes,.“In the present case, we are more than satisfied that the allotment was not made in a transparent manner and it clearly smacks out favoritism and / or nepotism. The greedy person is always looking after opportunities to secure unfair advantage by hook or crook. It is said that every greedy person is a criminal and every criminal is a greedy person.”.2.What were the laws involved.The Environmental Protection Act of 1986 under which the Coastal Regulation Zones are notifiedMaharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act of 1966.Violation of these laws included failure to comply with CRZ norms, converting the land into a residential zone without due process, and reducing the width of Captain Prakash Pethe Marg so as to carve out land for the building..3. Who is in the dock?.Once again placing reliance on the Justice Patil report, the Bombay High Court comes down on an entire range of senior public officials including,.Ashok Chavan, then Chief Minister (Flats allotted to relatives)PV Deshmukh, the Deputy Director, Town Planning (Son was allotted flat)Ramanand Tiwari, Principal Secretary, UDD (Son was allotted flat)Pradeep Vyas, Collector of Bombay (Wife was allotted flat)Jayraj Pathak, Municipal Commissioner (Son was allotted flat).The High Court held,.“So far we have come across cases where people by using money / muscle power as also political influence try to secure allotment of land. This case goes one step further.”.4. Who were the counsel involved?.Given the stakes involved, a number of senior counsel appeared in the matter..Navroz Seervai for the Adarsh Housing SocietyRS Apte for the Union of IndiaDarius Khambata for the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management AuthorityShailesh Shah for Maharashtra, and the Urban Development Department of Maharashtra.5. So when will the building be demolished?.Not anytime soon..The High Court acceded to Seervai’s request to stay the implementation of the judgment so as to allow an appeal to be filed in the Supreme Court..The stay is effective for the next twelve weeks.Will the apex court uphold the order, or will the State pass a policy to regularise illegal constructions?.Only time will tell.
Close to five months after reserving judgment, the Bombay High Court has finally delivered a verdict on the demolition of the Adarsh Society building..In a 223-page judgment, Justices Ranjit More and RG Ketkar not only ruled that the housing society violated a number of laws, but also came down harshly on a number of top-ranking officials and ministers. The judgment, authored by Justice Ketkar, also imposed costs totalling six lac on the housing society..Here is a low-down on all the Bombay High Court said, and did not say..1. Did the Bombay High Court order the demolition of the Adarsh building?.Yes. However, what the High Court actually did was uphold a 2011 order passed by the then Minster of State for Environment, Jayram Ramesh, who ordered the demolition of the building. This decision, dated January 16, 2011 was itself based on an order for removing the building “in its entirety” passed by Dr. Nalini Bhatt (the Competent Authority appointed by the MoEF), which was reiterated by Bharat Bhushan, the Director at MoEF..The Bombay High Court also heavily relied on the report prepared by the Justice JA Patil Commission, which was constituted to examine the Adarsh society matter. The report not only traces the constitution of the Adarsh society (right from 1994 with RC Thakur as the Chief Promoter) to the eventual identification of the plot in 2000 to allowing non-defence personnel to be allotted flats in the society..And not only did the Court uphold the 2011 order of demolition, it also held that there were several irregularities in the construction, and allotment of flats in the housing society..In Para 373, the High Court notes,.“In the present case, we are more than satisfied that the allotment was not made in a transparent manner and it clearly smacks out favoritism and / or nepotism. The greedy person is always looking after opportunities to secure unfair advantage by hook or crook. It is said that every greedy person is a criminal and every criminal is a greedy person.”.2.What were the laws involved.The Environmental Protection Act of 1986 under which the Coastal Regulation Zones are notifiedMaharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act of 1966.Violation of these laws included failure to comply with CRZ norms, converting the land into a residential zone without due process, and reducing the width of Captain Prakash Pethe Marg so as to carve out land for the building..3. Who is in the dock?.Once again placing reliance on the Justice Patil report, the Bombay High Court comes down on an entire range of senior public officials including,.Ashok Chavan, then Chief Minister (Flats allotted to relatives)PV Deshmukh, the Deputy Director, Town Planning (Son was allotted flat)Ramanand Tiwari, Principal Secretary, UDD (Son was allotted flat)Pradeep Vyas, Collector of Bombay (Wife was allotted flat)Jayraj Pathak, Municipal Commissioner (Son was allotted flat).The High Court held,.“So far we have come across cases where people by using money / muscle power as also political influence try to secure allotment of land. This case goes one step further.”.4. Who were the counsel involved?.Given the stakes involved, a number of senior counsel appeared in the matter..Navroz Seervai for the Adarsh Housing SocietyRS Apte for the Union of IndiaDarius Khambata for the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management AuthorityShailesh Shah for Maharashtra, and the Urban Development Department of Maharashtra.5. So when will the building be demolished?.Not anytime soon..The High Court acceded to Seervai’s request to stay the implementation of the judgment so as to allow an appeal to be filed in the Supreme Court..The stay is effective for the next twelve weeks.Will the apex court uphold the order, or will the State pass a policy to regularise illegal constructions?.Only time will tell.