The Madras High Court on Monday made it clear that all those who had received notices from the Greater Chennai Corporation for alleged violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules while constructing buildings between Neelankarai and Uthandi on the East Coast Road (ECR) should disclose all relevant details about their properties.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam wanted building owners, who had filed impleading petitions, to submit details such as the building plan approval obtained by them from the authorities concerned, the plinth area constructed and the purpose for which the buildings were used, with photographs.
June 21 deadline
Pointing out that the affidavits filed by the impleading petitioners had no details, the court ordered them to file additional affidavits by June 21 explaining whether the superstructures put up by them on the CRZ were in violation of the relevant rules and whether such structures were raised after obtaining building plan approval.
Last month, the Corporation had informed the High Court it had issued notices to 138 building owners, including actors such as Kamal Haasan and high-profile businessmen, requiring them to produce approved building plans for bungalows built between Neelankarai and Uthandi.
Joint inspection done
A Division Bench of Justices M. Venugopal and S. Vaidyanathan was told the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and Corporation officials had conducted a joint inspection of resorts, bungalows, farmhouses and guesthouses constructed within 500 m of the high tide line on the ECR on January 9.
The inspection was done on orders passed by the court on a batch of cases pending since 2001 seeking regularisation of buildings. The petitioners in those cases obtained interim orders in 2002 and had been enjoying those orders for over 15 years since the Corporation filed no counter-affidavit.
The inspection showed that around 50 buildings had been constructed within 200 m of the high tide line and 89 had been built between 200 and 500 m of the high tide line. It was also found that all of them fell under the CRZ.
Individual notices
The inspection was followed by individual notices issued by the Corporation to 138 building owners on January 18 calling upon them to produce building plans. After recording submissions, the judges had directed it to inform building owners of the cases pending in the court and get themselves impleaded if they choose to.
On Monday, a number of individuals and members of associations, such as Seashore Town Plot Owners and Juhu Beach Residents Association, filed petitions to get themselves impleaded in order to avoid coercive action such as disconnection of electricity to their buildings. The court refused to entertain the impleading petitions unless the owners filed individual additional affidavits disclosing particulars relating to their properties.
