GURUGRAM: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) this month asked Haryana‘s State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) to study the extent of illegal construction at the 327-acre Mayfield Garden.
The NGT bench of chairperson Prakash Shrivastava, judicial magistrate Arun Kumar Tyagi, and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel was hearing a petition by Orchid Island RWA, which had alleged that construction was being carried out at the project site without environmental clearances. The tribunal, in its hearing on Oct 4, noted that SEIAA had issued a directive to stop construction at Mayfield Garden four days earlier.
Spanning 327 acres across five sectors (47, 50, 51, 52 and 57), development of residential plots in Mayfield Garden began in 1994. But construction on plots that were sold off to multiple developers and buyers has been carried out extensively in recent years, necessitating environmental clearances such as consent to establish and consent to operate certificates from the pollution control board.
NGT, while hearing the case in April earlier this year, had passed an interim order directing Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) to ensure that illegal construction was not carried out in Mayfield Garden.
Subsequently, a committee set up by the state govt inspected the project and concluded that licensee companies had not obtained mandatory environmental clearances. Based on these findings, SEIAA issued its order halting construction on Oct 1.
“… SEIAA, Haryana, had passed the orderstopping all construction activities at the project site till the grant of EC. With the passing of the closure order under Section 5 of EP Act, 1986 by SEIAA, Haryana, the grievance of the applicant so far as it relates to raising/continuance of construction without obtaining EC does not survive,” the tribunal said in its order.
But it acknowledged the project proponents’ concern that SEIAA didn’t give it a hearing before issuing the construction order. On this, the bench said: “SEIAA, Haryana will ascertain the extent of construction done by them in the meanwhile without obtaining a clearance.”
