The Office of the Regional Deputy Director of Town and Country Planning here is issuing notices to buildings that have violated the HACA (Hill Area Conservation Authority) norms.
For instance, about a month ago, it issued notice to Karunya University here for constructing additional buildings without getting HACA approval and asked the University to restore the land to its original condition, which was before the said construction was made, within 30 days from the date of receipt of notice and that action will be taken otherwise.
Official sources said that notices have been issued regularly to buildings that violate the norms or do not have approval. Decisions on the action to be taken on buildings that have violated the norms will be take after elections. In some cases, only some portion of the project had approval. Coimbatore District has 17 HACA-notified villages and the office of the Regional Deputy Director issued notices last year to over 115 buildings. Many of these are located on the foothills of the western ghats. Later, the District Collector warned that action would be taken against buildings that do not get HACA approval. Some of the buildings that were received notices last year have submitted revised applications, some have gone to the court, some have not responded to the notice, the official sources said. About 25 per cent of the recipients have responded to the notice. Several educational institutions across the State were also served notices last year for constructing without approval.
