In a land mark order passed on January 16, the ministry of environment and forest led by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wanted "the entire structure removed in its entirety and the area restored to its original condition within 3 months".
"If the society fails to demolish the structure, then according to the convention, an order is issued in the name of the chief secretary for execution. The chief secretary in turn will pass on the order to the environment secretary. Ultimately, the Centre's order has to be executed by the collector. However, since the collector does not have the necessary machinery for demolition, the task will be entrusted either to the BMC or the MMRDA," a senior official told ToI on Monday.
The official said, in the present case, if the tower has to be demolished, then the role of both BMC and MMRDA will be crucial. "The entire project was approved by the BMC, while as a planning authority, MMRDA had granted commencement and occuption certificate to the society. The BMC and the MMRDA will have to execute the order under the supervision of the Mumbai collector," he said. Read the full report here.
Source: Prafulla Marpakwar, TNN, Mumbai.
