NGT admits plea seeking IIMP for Mumbai “island”, seeks MoEFCC response

The tribunal has sought responses from the National and Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authorities too

Mumbai: The National Green Tribunal has admitted a petition seeking to govern building construction based on Integrated Island Management Plan (IIMP) for entire Mumbai city and directed that the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the National and Maharashtra Costal Zone Management Authorities to file their say.

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The directive came on an application filed by former IPS officer and lawyer, Y.P. Singh seeking the enforcement of a binding provision contained in CRZ Notification 2019 that says that all building constructions in islands along the mainland should be government by an IIMP.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Aditya Pratap Singh said that as per CRZ Notification 2019 all islands along the mainland coast come within the ambit of the notification and Mumbai and parts of Thane district are parts of the larger Salsette island.

He argued that despite this, the Salsette was not reckoned as an island when the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) was prepared, and it was erroneously reckoned as mainland. He sought that the error needs to be rectified by withdrawing the erroneous CZMP and directions be issued to prepare IIMP for the Salsette Island. Stating that reckless construction was taking place in CRZ areas, he sought that till the statutory IIMP is prepared, all constructions within the Salsette Island be governed by CRZ Notification 2011.

Singh also submitted Google Earth satellite photographs to establish that the Salsette Island is covered by water from all sides, and hence would qualify to be called an island. After a detailed hearing by a bench of National Green Tribunal, comprising, Judicial Member, Dinesh Kumar Singh, and Expert Member, Dr. Vijay Kulkarni, admitted the application and issued notices to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the National Coastal Zone Management Authority and the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority, to file their responses.

“It is apparent that the learned counsel has raised a ground that Mumbai should not be treated to be a mainland and should be treated as an island and IIMP needs to be prepared rather than CZMP. This matter needs to be considered by us at length only after giving opportunity to the MoEF&CC to file objections against this original application,” the bench said in its order dated January 5 uploaded on Wednesday.

Section 10.2 (iii) of CRZ Notification 2019 states, “Integrated Island Management Plans (IIMPs) as applicable to smaller islands in Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar as per Island Protection Zone Notification 2011 shall be formulated by respective states or union territory for all such islands and submitted to MoEFCC, and till the IIMPs are framed, provisions of this notification shall not apply and the CZMP as per provisions of CRZ Notification 2011 shall continue to apply.”

Advocate Singh told HT, “Mumbai being an island is highly eco sensitive. However. in recent times, enormous FSI has been granted, where a 2-floor building is being replaced by massive buildings, often of 30 to 50 floors high or even more. No city can withstand such infrastructural aggression. Therefore, if as per the law, the IIMP is implemented in Mumbai, such reckless construction would come to a halt and all constructions shall be strictly regulated taking into account the eminent principle of environment law, the ‘Precautionary Principle’, which states, that if there is a doubt that an action can be environmentally vulnerable, then the act which protects the environment has to be followed.”

Singh said, “If the IIMP is implemented, then instead of a narrow strip of land being under the influence of CRZ Notification, the entire city of Mumbai shall come within the scope of the CRZ Notification and the linked IIMP, and that no construction would be permited without the approval of the Coastal Authority,”

The NGT has scheduled the next hearing on March 14, 2024.