The Chennai Corporation has so far removed 339 unauthorised bunk shops across the city.
The civic body made this submission before the First Bench of the Madras High Court comprising acting Chief Justice R.K. Agrawal and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, when a contempt petition filed by social activist, K.R. Ramaswamy alias ‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy came up for hearing.
The petitioner submitted that illegal bunk shops, even those in important places, had not been removed. This was in violation of a court order.
In a counter-affidavit, Corporation Commissioner, Vikram Kapur said the civic body had already started implementing the court order. Shop owners have been instructed to remove their bunks on their own, failing which, the Corporation would take action. In all, there are 518 such shops in the city, of which 339 had been removed as on September 3. There were court cases with regard to 119 of the other shops. Zonal officers have been entrusted with this work. They were “taking effective steps to remove the bunks,” he said.
The Corporation counsel sought two weeks’ time. Following this, the court adjourned the matter for further hearing after a fortnight.
