1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION NOTICE OF MOTION NO. 116 OF 2009 IN PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION NO. 87 OF 2006 The Bombay Environmental Action Group & Anr. ..................Petitioners Versus The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ............................Respondents And The City and Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. ........Interveners. Mr. Gautam Patel, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Sharan Jagtiani i/by M/s. M.V. Jayakar & Co. for the Petitioners Mr. Ravi Kadam, Advocate General, with Mr. Niranjan Pandit, Assistant Government Pleader, for the State Mr. Venkatesh Dhond with Mr. Aniket Nair i/by M/s. Khaitan & Jayakar for CIDCO Mr. K.K. Singhvi, Senior Advocate, with Mr. S.S. Pakale and Ms. Shobha Ajitkumar for B.M.C. Mr. R.B. Raghuwanshi, Additional Solicitor General, with Ms. Rutuja Ambekar for Union of India. CORAM: B ILAL NAZKI and SMT. V.K. TAHILRAMANI, JJ. DATE: APRIL 29, 2009 2 P.C.:- This application has been moved by the City and Industrial Development Corporation Ltd., seeking a direction of this Court to the effect that - “(a) this Hon’ble Court be pleased to clarify that the order dated 6th October 2005 passed by this Hon’ble Court in the present Writ Petition does not preclude the MOEF from considering the request of the Interveners to amend the CRZ Notification 91, commencing the process of amending the CRZ Notification 1991 & thereafter amending the CRZ Notification.” 2. It appears that there is a proposal for a new airport in Navi Mumbai in view of inadequacy of the facilities at the present airport. For construction of new airport, site has been identified at Navi Mumbai, and it needed clearances from various authorities, including the Ministry of Environment and Forests. 3. The learned Advocate General has drawn our attention to a letter dated 17th February, 2009 written by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to the Chief Secretary of the State. This pertains to the 3 clearances under CRZ-I(i), I(ii) and CRZ-III. Paragraph 2 of the letter reads as under:- “This Ministry has also received letters from the Ministry of Civil Aviation that underline urgency for the second Airport at Navi Mumbai. It has been urged in these letters that the Airport be permitted by amending CRZ Notification after dispensing with process of inviting public suggestions and comments to avoid delays.” 4. The Ministry of Environment and Forests had received a request from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, requesting that the airport be permitted by amending the CRZ Notification. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, on the basis of the information of the Ministry for Law, was of the opinion that permission of this Court would be necessary in view of the orders passed by this Court in this Writ Petition. 5. We do not find anywhere that any authority has been restrained by this Court’s order to exercise its statutory functions and powers, and the builder is restrained by order dated 6th October 2005 from construction within certain areas. That question may not arise at present. 4 6. Therefore, we observe that this Court’s order dated 6th October, 2005 does not restrict power of any authority to exercise its statutory power in accordance with law. This Notice of Motion is made absolute with these observations. BILAL NAZKI, J. SMT. V.K. TAHILRAMANI, J.