Reiterating its stand on the Adarsh housing society, a former Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) official told a judicial panel here on Monday that the building has to be demolished as it does not have environmental clearance.

Former MoEF director Bharat Bhushan told a two-member inquiry commission set up by the state government to probe into the scam, that the Adarsh building stands in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and hence environmental clearance is mandatory.