HC stays MoEF order on Lavasa

A division bench of Justices D K Deshmukh and N D Deshpande gave tongue lashing to Additional Solicitor General Darius Khambata, appearing for the MoEF, and called the MoEF order “drastic.”

The high court asked the MoEF why no prior notice was given to the Lavasa Corporation. When Khambata tried to argue that the stay to construction was in “public interest”, the judges asked “what was public interest doing for the last six years? How did you ignore it for six years?”

Senior counsel Shekhar Nafade, appearing for Lavasa Corporation, argued that the stay should be lifted because Lavasa was losing Rs 5 crore everyday. However, the court said Lavasa must make a statement that no work would be carried out while MoEF heard it on the issue of the stay by December 16.