SANJAY KISHAN KAUL,J. - (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The battle of environment protection against development is a never ending one and the present dispute primarily is an offshoot of such a conflict. The dispute between the developers of a housing project and the environment authorities is also one where different authorities have taken variant stands. It is the say of the developer that they obtained all requisite permissions and have proceeded with the project in pursuance thereof while the coastal management authority and the environment authority plead otherwise. From the perspective of the Kerala State Coastal Management Authority, which is the main appellant before us, it has been a saga of a sleeping authority - not having an afternoon siesta but a Kumbhakarna sleep albeit of almost four years. On being woken up, it suddenly seeks to see various violations wanting to put the clock back. In this period things have been done and dusted and a huge project has taken shape, which is at the final stage.
(3.) Now coming to the facts of the case at hand, the project in question is of respondent No.1, which purchased nearly 5.12 acres of property from different vendors in the year 2006 envisaging a multi-storey residential complex of about 185 units located on the eastern bank of Chilavannurkayal (backwaters) in Kerala. The area in question, as apparent from the status report of the Coastal Regulation Zone ('CRZ') itself shows that the area falls in the Kochi Corporation and the said area, along with the adjoining panchayats is highly developed. A lot of low lying areas including tidal marshes and filtration ponds bordering the backwaters are alleged to have been reclaimed for construction and other development activities by various third parties and the area close to the site in question is well developed and built up.;