Supreme Court freezes Mangrove theme park

KOCHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered to stop the functioning of the controversial Mangrove Theme Park at Pappinissery.

The court ordered to stop all construction and commercial activities in the park run by the Pappinissery Eco Tourism Society. The court criticised the action of the Union Environment Ministry which had ordered to close down the park without issuing a notice.

The Supreme Court ordered that a notice should be served to the authorities of the park by the Additional Director of the Environment Ministry within a week. The court also directed to inform it the final decision in this regard in four weeks' time. The court asked the authorities to notify the Kerala High Court about this.

The Environment Ministry approached the Supreme Court after the Kerala High Court stayed the order of the Ministry to close down the park.

The park was reopened last week following the High Court order keeping in abeyance the directive of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to close down the park. The Ministry issued the order on the grounds that it violated the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.

The Ministry, in its petition, pointed out that the functioning of the park would affect the environment adversely. It was on July 14 that the Ministry directed the park authorities to close down the park. On August 19, the Kerala High Court stayed the the Ministry's order, pointing out that the park authorities had not been issued a notice before directing them to close down the park.