Overview
- Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran permitted buildings up to ground plus three floors for residents in the designated cantonment and civil areas.
- Roughly 1,200 families and the local Special Area Development Authority welcomed the decision after years of living in homes that could not be properly repaired.
- The order rests on the state’s May 6 move excluding 395.95 hectares from the Pachmarhi Sanctuary and reclassifying the land as Nazul, enabling lawful sale and development.
- Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, for the Pachmarhi Cantonment Board, pressed for higher height limits, citing average plot sizes of about 300 square feet that hinder planned building.
- Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey urged strict oversight to protect the ecologically sensitive Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve and to reduce disaster risks from unplanned construction.