SC relief for residents of Kochi coastal apartments

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed for six weeks the demolition of 400 flats in five posh coastal apartments in Maradu area of Kochi giving some relief to the home-owners. A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Ajay Rastogi passed the order while considering a writ petition filed by a group of residents, who claimed that their arguments were not heard by the top court while pronouncing the demolition order on May 8. The apex court had ordered demolition of the apartments within a month after finding their construction in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone notification. The permission to construct the buildings was granted in 2006 when Maradu was a panchayat. Earlier, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra ordered the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) to demolish three posh apartments in Maradu for violation of Coastal Regulation Zone rules. The bench also asked the KCZMA to submit before it a report in this regard within a month. The builders of two apartments filed review petitions challenging the judgement and argued that the court was misled by the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority. The review petitions also said that the SC-appointed three-member committee did not given them a proper hearing. Assuring that the review pleas will be heard in first week of July, the Supreme Court vacation bench ordered a status quo on all the demolitions till then. The apex court said the state cannot approve illegal constructions in the light of the danger of floods and heavy rains.