CRZ VIOLATIONS
Resident files criminal complaint against Chowpatty eatery, MTDC….TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Even as the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Drishti Sports Pvt Ltd are at loggerheads with the former terminating the latter’s licence to run a water sports complex and a restaurant at Girgaum Chowpatty, a local resident has filed a criminal complaint before a magistrate against both, the corporation and Drishti, for alleged violations.
The magistrate, said advocate Y P Singh, who represents the complainant Amit Maru, has kept the matter for hearing on April 25. The accusations are against the D Ward officer, collector, MTDC chairperson and the three promoters of the water sports complex, including actor Suniel Shetty. The charges are that there have been violations under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and Coastal Regulation Zone norms.
Hitesh Jain, lawyer for MTDC, said, “We are not aware of the complaint and it has no relevance to MTDC’s independent action against Drishti over termination of the licence agreement.’’
Rajiv Somani, managing director of Drishti, who in a detailed reply to MTDC’s February 27 show-cause notice, had already denied any violation and had given his clarifications. When contacted on Wednesday he said, “I am not served with any complaint. We had already given a reply to MTDC and we are carrying out the activities as per the Maharashtra tourism policy.’’
The complaint said that the water sports facility situated at ‘Chhoti Chowpatty’ is on an area reserved for a public recreation area and falls under the CRZ-I area, where only very limited development can take place. Besides, the restaurant had been given a licence only as a snack bar for pre-cooked food, a condition that is allegedly being violated. The complaint also alleged that encroachment of almost four times the area originally allotted for the sports complex is an offence under the Indian Penal Code.
It also alleged that permitting a restaurant in a CRZ-I area was an offence under the Environment Protection Act, which stipulates that even the head of government departments can be liable unless he or she can show that the violation was done without their knowledge.