THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court gave nod to the real estate project coming up at Phase III of Technopark, as it dismissed a petition challenging the construction, on Thursday.
The Rs 1500 crore Taurus Downtown Trivandrum project, is one of the ambitious projects in the state. It includes two million sqft office space, a 850,000 sqft mall, multiplex, hotel with 210 rooms, 320 residents and non-SEZ office space.
The three-member bench headed by Justice RF Nariman dismissed the petition filed by Thomas Lawrence who claimed that the construction was in violation of Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008 and the Centre’s Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017. The petitioner contended that the site for construction was a wetland connected to Veli-Akkulam lake and hence it should be protected. Earlier the court gave a three-week stay on the project and have three weeks time to the petitioner to prove the charges.
However, the real estate company and the government maintained that the land was not a wetland and there would not be any environmental impact due to the construction. It showed a report from the district collector that approved the constructions based on these grounds.
The IT park had obtained a government order for converting 19.75 acres of wetland, which also houses a pond, for expanding Technopark. The court maintained that it would not go into the report and gave the option to the petitioner to challenge the report within eight weeks with a fresh petition.