The Madras High Court has warned the officials of the Chennai Corporation that it would not hesitate to invoke all the provisions available in law, including contempt, against them if they take the orders of the court casually.
The First Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar made the observations as they were annoyed over a two-page report filed by the corporation officials in a contempt petition in connection with hawking menace on NSC Bose Road, Chennai. The report claimed that 1,252 hawkers evicted from the area were allotted alternate space at various locations including North Fort Road and Raja Annamalai Mandram as per the recommendations of Justice A. Ramamurthy Committee.
No details in report
The report neither contained details of the recommendations nor the copy of the committee was attached.
The officials simply claimed that the allotments were made based on the recommendations, without enlightening the court, as to what actually the recommendations were.
‘Lethargic approach’
Pulling up the officials for their lethargic approach, the Madras High Court Bench directed the Commissioner of Chennai Corporation and the Additional Commissioner of Police (traffic), to file a detailed affidavit explaining the allotment of alternative shops for pavement vendors who were claimed to be evicted from the area.
