Justices RV More and RG Ketkar today ordered the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to demolish the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society (ACHS) building in Mumbai..The Bombay High Court was hearing a 2011 appeal by ACHS against an order of demolition passed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The MOEF had ordered demolition on violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms..It was the Defence Ministry’s contention that the society poses a security threat to other defence establishments in the area as it is a civil society. Today the MoD has been directed to initiate an enquiry against it’s officers for not taking action in the matter before 2012..Appearing for the society, senior counsel Navroz Seervai sought a stay of twelve weeks on the order as the Supreme Court will be closed for summer vacations soon..To which Justice Ketkar said:.The request is reasonable and hence a stay is granted subject to no further appeal after 12 weeks. .The High Court has also asked the government to initiate civil and criminal proceedings against the ministers, bureaucrats and other politicians involved in the scam. The ACHS has been directed to pay a fine of Rs. 6 lakhs to officers of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and the state department for levelling false allegations against them..The society which was originally meant to be a six-storey structure to house Kargil war heroes and war widows, was converted into a 100-metre-tall building with 31 storeys..Sharmila Deshmukh appeared for the state in the matter while Senior counsel Darius Khambata appeared for the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA).
