S.H. KAPADIA, J.:---By this Public Interest Writ Petition, the petitioners pray that the constructions and the development activities carried out or proposed to be carried out on Plot Nos. 146, 147 and 148 of Backbay Reclamation area is illegal as the same contravenes the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Notification dated 19th February 1991 issued thereunder (hereinafter referred to, for the sake of brevity, as the "CRZ Notification"). Before coming to the facts and the points for determination, a short prelude is required to be stated.

Greater Bombay comprises of the City of Bombay and the suburbs. The island city came into being due to joining of seven (7) islands through a massive programme of reclamation carried out during the last two centuries. The island city is a narrow North-South strip of land with two bays viz. Backbay in the South and Mahim in the North, both along the Western coast. Almost the whole of the Eastern coast is in use as Port. The whole of the island city is historically intensively developed. However, today it is bursting at the seams. This can be seen from the figures of the Census 1991. At present the urban dynamics show that there is