Demolition in Kochi's CRZ: Kerala known for not following our orders, says SC

The Supreme Court pulled up the Kerala government on Friday for non-compliance of its order to demolish five apartment complexes constructed at Kochi's Maradu in violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notifications and said the state was known for "not following" its directives. "Your state (Kerala) is known for not following the orders of this court," a bench of justices Arun Mishra and M R Shah said, while expressing displeasure that its May 8 order had not been complied with yet.

"We want to set a precedent now," the bench said. The apex court asked the Kerala government to comply with its order by September 20 and said if a compliance report was not filed, then the state chief secretary had to appear before it on September 23.

The top court had in July dismissed a plea filed by the realtors, seeking a review of its May 8 order. On May 8, the apex court had directed that these buildings be removed within a month as they were constructed in a notified CRZ, which was part of the tidally-influenced waterbody in Kerala.

The court had passed the order after taking note of a report of a three-member committee, which said when the buildings were built, the area was already notified as a CRZ and construction was prohibited. Earlier, the court had rejected a plea filed by the residents of the area against the demolition order and taken a strong exception to an order passed by a vacation bench during the summer break of the apex court, which had stayed the demolition of these buildings for six weeks.