Lavasa Corporation has said it will be filing a writ petition in the Bombay High Court to set aside the orders of the Pune court.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate N T Ghadge had ordered Lavasa Corporation and 15 others including promoters and directors to appear in the Pune court on January 30, 2012 to defend themselves in the criminal case filed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for environment violations.
Nine of the 15 accused appeared in the court on Monday through their lawyers. The court ordered the re-issue of summons to five accused who did not appear in court on Monday. The court has set March 17, 2012 as the next date for hearing.
One of the accused S K Dharmadhikari, a director on the Lavasa Corporation board, had filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court and obtained a stay on further proceedings against him in the Pune court. Lavasa Corporation, through their lawyer, Adv Abhay Nevegi, said it was planning to go to HC to challenge the issue process orders of the Pune Court and till the outcome of the petition to be filed in the high court and they asked for time from the court.
Another application was filed by accused S Kulkarni and six others in the Pune Sessions Court.
They filed a criminal revision petition for setting aside the issue process and till such time an order was made they sought exemption from personal appearance before the Ghadge court.
Of the five accused who did not appear in court, two had resigned from the company, one had move to Mumbai and there was a change of address while report of two others were not known.
A criminal complaint was filed against Lavasa Corporation Limited and 15 persons, including nine members of the Lavasa Corporation’s board of directors (as on 2004) and five officials of the company, by the Maharashtra State;s MPCB on November 4.
The complaint was filed for violation of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 under criminal offence for breach of Section 16 of the Environment Protection Act.