Judgment :

K.S. Radhakrishnan, J.

1. Vembanad Backwater is a Critically Vulnerable Coastal Area (for short "CVCA"), which supports exceptionally large biological diversity and constitutes the second largest wetlands in India. There are several islands in and around Vembanad Backwaters of which Vettilla Thuruthu is one amongst them.

2. SLP - petitioner preferred a Writ Petition (Civil) No. 2947 of 2013 before the High Court of Kerala seeking a declaration that few items of its properties, described therein, approximately 5.21 acres were wrongly included in Map No. 32A of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (for short "CZMP") prepared by the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (for short "KCZMA") and hence ultra vires the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 1991 (for short "Notification 1991") and CRZ Notification, 2011 (for short "Notification 2011"). Petitioner has also sought for a declaration that classification of its properties situated in Vettilla Thuruthu Island as Filtration Pond (for short "FP") and the consequent categorization of the same under CRZ-I is unconstitutional, being ultra vires CRZ 1991 as well as CRZ 2011. The KCZMA took up the stand that CZMP for t