: The Madras High Court has ordered a statutory contempt notice to the State Housing and Urban Development Secretary for not implementing a court order for over six years.
The First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice M. Sundar directed the Housing Secretary Dharmendra Pratap Yadav to be present in the court on February 21 to answer as to why he should not be proceeded against and punished in accordance with law for wilful disobedience of court orders.
The issue pertains to a plea moved by New Kenilworth Hotel Private Limited, a Kolkata-based hospitality company. According to the company, it made an application on August 29, 1994, for establishing a star hotel in Vilankurichi village, Coimbatore.
As the government authorities concerned created several hurdles on various grounds for granting approval, the issue was taken to the High Court, and a Division Bench of the court on December 3, 2010, directed the authorities to issue all necessary approvals without any further delay to enable the company to start construction of its star hotel.
About six years after the order was pronounced, the company has once again approached the High Court through a contempt petition seeking action against the authorities for failing to obey the court order.
When the contempt plea came up for hearing before the First Bench, it was informed that the files relating to the approvals are pending with the Housing Secretary. Recording the submission, the Bench impleaded the Housing Secretary as a party to the petition and issued contempt notice returnable by February 21.
