Mumbai, Apr 13 (PTI) In a breather for the Adarsh Housing Society here, the Bombay High Court today said that before taking any "drastic step" like passing an order for demolition, it will first hear the society and the environment ministry.
"Anything which is illegal needs to be demolished. We agree with that, but at this stage we would like to first hear the arguments to satisfy our judicial conscience. Demolition is a drastic step," said a division bench of justices Ranjana Desai and R G Ketkar.
The court was hearing the petition filed by the society, challenging the demolition order passed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in January.
The ministry ordered the demolition of the 31-storey building after concluding that it was unauthorised and had violated several norms. The society had got three months' time to file appeal.
The high court today posted the matter for hearing on April 27.