Odishatv Bureau
New Delhi: The 31-storey Adrash Housing Society building should be demolished within three months, the Environment Ministry recommended today while holding that the scam-tainted project in Mumbai`s upmarket Colaba was "unauthorised" and violated the spirit of coastal regulations.

The Environment Ministry in its final orders on the controversial building, in which flats were doled out to politicians, top defence personnel and bureaucrats as well as their kin, said, "The unauthorised structure built... should be removed in its entirety and the area should be restored to its original condition."

The Society has been asked to remove the structure on its own within three months failing which the Environment Ministry will be "constrained to enforce this direction and undertake action" under sections of the Environment Protection Act, it said in its voluminous order.

"Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society has violated the very spirit of CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) Notification, 1991 by not even acknowledging the need for clearance under this notification...Ignorance of law an never be an excuse for non-compliance," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in a statement posted on the Ministry`s website.

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