The environment ministry today issued a show cause notice to the Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai for ‘blatant’ violation of coastal zone regulation (CRZ). “The show cause notice is for the removal of the unauthorized structure, asking why the building should not be removed,” environment minister Jairam Ramesh said in New Delhi on Friday.

Ramesh said that a meeting on Thursday with the state government made it clear that Adarsh had no permission to build any structure from the state government or the authorities. The ministry has given the society two weeks notice for a written reply in the matter. It has given one more for the society to meet the ministry officials. “We have given them a three weeks’ time after which we will think of the next step,” the minister said.

The ownership of the building is irrelevant as far as the environment ministry is concerned, added Ramesh. “The whole building, which has 31 floors, is an illegal structure and no permission was taken for construction of any floor,” Ramesh clarified.

Talking about the future of the building, Ramesh said that all options except regularisation are open for the building. “I am against regularisation as a policy as it sets a bad example,” he said.

He also added that a show cause notice had been issued to the housing society by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) in November 2009.