Adarsh Society fails to file reply to MoEF notice

Scam-hit Mumbai’s Adarsh Housing Society has failed to file its reply to the showcause notice served by the Union environment ministry asking why its 31-storey building at Colaba should not be demolished for allegedly violating green laws.

“They have not filed the reply,” a senior ministry official said adding the hearing of the case has, however, been scheduled for December 29.

The ministry had, in its order on December 15, asked the Society to file its reply by December 24 and made it clear that no further extension of time for filing the reply would be given.

Following a request, the ministry had last week allowed the officials of the Society to inspect the original documents which highlight the alleged violation of green laws by the Society.

The ministry has already given two extensions to the Society, which is in the eye of a storm for constructing the highrise allegedly ignoring various norms, to file the reply since it slapped its notice on November 12.

The Society had on November 24 sought four weeks’ time but the ministry on November 29 agreed for a seven-day extension till December 7.

But before the expiry of the notice period, the Society sought an extension of one more month, which was not agreed to by the ministry.

The Society built the structure, allegedly violating the Coastal Regulation Zone notification and environment by-laws. Besides green law violations, the Adarsh Society is also facing a CBI case for “fraudulently” converting the residential block originally meant to be a six-storeyed apartment block in Mumbai’s upscale Colaba for housing widows of Kargil war heroes.