The Greater Chennai Corporation on Tuesday informed the Madras High Court of having issued notices to as many as 138 building owners, including actor Kamal Haasan, requiring them to produce approved building plans for the bungalows constructed by them along the East Coast Road (ECR), between Neelankarai and Uthandi.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Venugopal and S. Vaidyanathan was told that the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and Corporation officials on January 9 conducted a joint inspection of the resorts, bungalows, farm houses and guest houses constructed within 500 metres of the high tide line on the ECR.
The inspection was carried out on the basis of the orders passed by the court on a batch of cases pending since 2001.
The writ petitioners in those cases obtained interim orders in 2002 and had been enjoying those orders for over 15 years, since the Corporation did not file any counter affidavit in those cases.
However, after the court ordered a joint inspection last year, the CMDA officials found that around 50 buildings had been constructed within 200 metres of the high tide line and 89 had been constructed between 200 and 500 metres of the high tide line. It was also found that all of them fell under the Coastal Regulatory Zone.
The inspection was followed by individual notices issued by the Corporation to 138 building owners on January 18, calling upon them to produce their approved building plans.
