Pune Court to give crucial order on Lavasa today

Pune: A court in Pune today will give orders in the criminal case filed against 15 top directors of the Lavasa corporation.

The case was filed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board on behalf of the state government for violation of environment protection act in the first phase of its construction.

If the Pune court gives the go ahead then all those named in the complaint including the chairman of Lavsa corporation Ajit Gulabchand will have to appear before the court.

The action by the state government was initiated following directions from the Bombay High Court. The court had on October 20 passed the direction after it was informed that the government had failed to take any action against Lavasa despite an order from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).

The state government had said it had not taken any action as the matter was sub-judice and Lavasa's petition was pending before the high court.

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The court, however, directed the Maharashtra government to initiate credible action against Lavasa within two weeks and had also asked MoEF to pass its final order within a week thereafter on the application filed by Lavasa seeking environment clearance.

Lavasa is carrying out construction work at 681 hectares of its total 2,000 hectares project in Pune district without the mandatory clearances.

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Five years of imprisonment and a penalty of Rs one lakh or both is the punishment under the sections 15 and 16 of the Environment Protection Act under which a case has been filed against Lavasa Corporation, an MPCB lawyer said.