In a landmark judgement, the Orissa High Court has hailed the enforcement of the Environmental Protection (EP) Acts on Puri beach against illegal hotels and constructions.
The court dismissed the appeal of the Puri Konark Development Authority (PKDA), which had prayed for execution of the Odisha Development Authority (ODA) Acts on illegal constructions on the beach. The court justified the environmental laws of the Centre on the beach and issued the CRZ notification by empowering the PKDA for execution. The court also rejected the appeal filed by the hotel associations of Puri in this regard.
The judgement was passed by a bench of Justices Sanju Panda and P Patnaik on July 31 which clarified that the State Government has no power of execution in the CRZ area.
After the judgement, the hoteliers and guesthouse owners on the beach those which have set up their structures in violation of the CRZ guidelines of centre have gone apprehensive.
As per the EP Acts, any violation within 500 meter area from the sea will be treated with non-bailable arrest and imprisonment with fines. The big worry now is that after the verdict, the law violators would not only be put behind the bar, their constructions would also be evicted by the PKDA. Earlier, the illegal constructions on the beach were being dealt with ODA Acts limiting actions to eviction without punishment of owners.
It is worthwhile to mention here that the PKDA had earlier decided to treat the illegal constructions on the beach as per ODA Acts. Opposing ODA Acts, the hoteliers’ association had moved the HC in 2000. In 2015, the PKDA also had filed a writ before the court for maintaining the ODA Act on the beach which the two-Judge bench rejected, besides dismissing the appeal of the hotel association.
Now, the problem for the PKDA is a criminal action on more than 300 hotels on the beach, to which the former had given clearance allegedly in violation of the CRZ guidelines.