The stay order comes after the Madras High Court ordered the demolition of property, door no. 7, which is contiguous with its adjacent property.
The Supreme Court has stayed the demolition of an unauthorised multi-storeyed building on Aziz Mulk Street at Thousand Lights, Anna Salai.
A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and S.J. Mukhopadhaya stayed the order passed by the Madras High Court directing Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and Chennai Corporation to demolish the building.
The Bench passed the order after hearing the argument of Anand Padmanabhan, counsel for the appellant, V.M. Gangadharan, owner of an adjacent property, who was not a party to the dispute in the High Court.
In its order, the Bench said “The impugned order of the High Court insofar as it directs the authority to demolish the unauthorised construction raised by the third respondent, Ms. Mumtaz Begum, in the writ petition, shall remain stayed. We further direct that the CMDA will decide the matter regarding regularisation of the buildings within a period of eight weeks after hearing the concerned parties.”
Acting on a petition filed by Muslim Educational Society alleging that one Mumtaz Begum, to whom the building was leased out, had started constructing a multi-storeyed building on the land, the High Court while slapping Rs. 1 lakh exemplary cost on the woman, ordered demolition of the illegal construction. A special leave petition was filed by V.M. Gangadharan, against this order dated July 3.
The appellant said though he was not a party to the proceedings in the High Court, it had made certain adverse orders and observations against him. which if not interfered would lead to serious consequences for him and also affect the proceedings before the CMDA for regularisation.
The appellant contended that he got permission for construction of two floors in 2002 and for the existing structure prior to 1993. He said the question for determination was whether the High Court could have ordered demolition of property, door no 8 (that of the Society), which was not only contiguous with door no. 7 but would also affect his other legal rights. He sought a direction to stay the demolition.
Keywords: Supreme Court, unauthorised building, Anna Salai, Thousand Lights
