: The term of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority ended on Friday even as around 100 cases involving Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) violations are being waged in courts and scores of applications seeking CRZ clearance are pending before the panel.
Around 300 applications seeking CRZ clearance for constructing and repairing houses by fishermen and traditional communities, builders and commercial establishments are pending with the Authority. It had considered around 200 such applications on Monday, when it met last, sources said.
This was the first panel, which was mandated with the implementation of the CRZ 2011 notification that replaced the decades-old CRZ 1991 regime.
The State government, it is learnt, has recommended to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to retain the outgoing panel for another term.
The high profile CRZ violations followed-up by the Authority, include the violations by 19 builders and a few individuals along the Chilavannoor Lake in Ernakulam. A few other cases are pending with the National Green Tribunal, Chennai, and the High Court of Kerala. Litigations related to violations by a few resorts in Vembanad Lake were successfully waged in the Supreme Court, Authority sources said.
Baby John, a member of the outgoing panel, said that any delay in its reconstitution panel will adversely impact the outcome of the litigations being waged in courts and tribunals.
The outgoing panel had also invited bad press following the controversies related to the environment clearance granted to the DLF Riverside project at Chilavannoor. The issue had also rocked the State Assembly following which the State Chief Secretary submitted a report to the State government criticising some of the steps taken by the former KCZMA chairman on the controversial project.
The Authority could not act against some of the senior government officials including district collectors who failed to implement its directive, said an official.
