AMEETA SHAH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) RULE, returnable forthwith. Learned Counsel the respondents waive service. By consent taken up for hearing and final disposal. The challenge

(2.) THE Fishery Survey of India is in the process of constructing a building consisting of a ground floor and four storeys on reclaimed land near Sassoon Dock, Mumbai. The building is situated at a distance of 150 metres from the High Tide Line. The project is sought to be implemented for a Facilities Centre of the Fishery Survey of India ("f. S. I. " ). The construction is sought to be impugned, inter alia, by two Associations representing residents interested in preserving ecology and the environment. The contention of the petitioners before the Court is that the construction is within the prohibition of the Coastal Regulation Zone notification dated 19th February, 1991 issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of India ("m. O. E. F. ") and on the ground that it violates the conditions stipulated by the Ministry in a permission granted on 23rd October, 1991. The Sassoon Dock Fishery Harbour:

(3.) THE construction which is being carried on by F. S. I. in on Plot No. 2-A of Unit No. 12, which is a part of a larger piece of land that was reclaimed from the sea for a project of a fishing harbour. The project was undertaken by the Bombay Port Trust (B. P. T. ") and the entire reclaimed area is stated to admeasure 15. 27 hectares. On 15th March, 1977, the Government of India in the Ministry of Agriculture, conveyed to the Chairman of the B. P. T. an administrative approval of the Government of India for the construction of a Fishing Harbour at Sassoon Dock at an estimated cost not exceeding Rs. 405. 72 lakhs under a Central Scheme for the provision of landing and berthing facilities for fishing craft at Major Ports. The sanction was subject to the condition that one hectare of land in the newly reclaimed area at Sassoon Dock will be allotted to the Exploratory Fisheries Project, Bombay (the precursor of F. S. I. ). The Botanical Garden: