Coastal Road pleas will be heard after Diwali: Supreme Court

Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it will hear the pleas challenging the Bombay high court order, which had quashed the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearances granted to the `14,000-crore Coastal Road project in Mumbai, after the Diwali vacation.

While deferring the matter after Diwali vacation, the court refused to grant stay on the Bombay high court order that had quashed the ambitious CRZ clearance granted to the coastal road project and asserted that the petitions will be heard later after Diwali break.

The bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.A. Bobde and S.A. Nazeer clarified this when solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), sought an interim order from the Supreme Court for resuming the stalled Coastal Road project in Mumbai.

 He had said that the 30 km-long coastal road project had started in 2018 and it has to meet the deadline of 2022 for completing it and the civic body and others be allowed to resume the work at their own peril.

The bench said that the petition would be listed for hearing before a bench headed by Justice S.A. Bobde on reopening of the court after Diwali vacations.

The apex court had on Monday agreed to hear on Friday the pleas after the Solicitor General told the court that the matter, which was last heard on in July this year, required an urgent hearing.

The apex court had earlier sought response from fishermen’s association, activists and residents on whose petitions the high court on July 16 quashed the CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) clearances, saying there was “serious lacuna” in the decision-making process and lack of proper scientific study.

The bench was hearing appeals filed by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Larsen and Toubro Ltd and HCC HDC JV.

The Municipal Corporation had submitted that CRZ clearance was granted on the undisputed land and the HC’s order be stayed. However, the apex court had said that it will hear the parties concerned first on the pleas.

A division bench of the high court in its ruling had said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) cannot proceed with work on the 29.2 km project, which proposes to connect Marine Drive area in south Mumbai to suburban Borivali in north Mumbai.