Above: A representational picture of a hotel in Kasauli

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday (July 7) ordered that all illegal hotels in Kasauli, in the Solan District of Himachal Pradesh, on which demolition orders had been given, have to be demolished within a week.

The NGT principal bench, headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar has been hearing an application by the Society for Preservation of Kasauli and its Environs against dubious environment clearances granted to huge tourism development projects in Kasauli.

On Friday the bench asked the state authorities that when Supreme Court refused the stay to the hotels being demolished “why didn’t you demolish them till date?”

While giving the demolition orders, the bench also grilled the state authorities for having done nothing towards the execution of the orders of the tribunal.

The matter has been listed for July 18.

—India Legal Bureau