JUDGMENT :

BECHU KURIAN THOMAS, J.

1. A massive shopping mall is under construction in the capital city of Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram. Midway through the construction, this public interest litigation was preferred, questioning the grant of environmental clearance for the construction and for various other reliefs. Petitioner questions the environmental clearance granted for the construction and alleges CRZ violations.

2. The writ petitioner portrays himself to be a person who espouses public causes and claims to have filed several public interest litigations in this Court due to his social commitment. Writ petitioner resides in the district of Kollam. He canvasses against the grant of Environmental Clearance (for short ‘the EC’) for the construction of a shopping mall at Thiruvananthapuram. Petitioner alleges that the EC was granted without jurisdiction or authority. He bases his contention on the authority of State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (‘SEIAA’ for brevity), to grant clearance for a building having a built-up area of 2.32 lakhs sq.m. According to the petit