After a legal battle of over eight months, the Coimbatore Corporation on Monday demolished an over-70-year-old building on the western side of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, at Lanka Corner.
Town Planning Officer in-charge S. Ravichandran said the civic body had been following the issue since April 2017, when it received a petition from the Collectorate. Based on a petition from a city resident, Barkath Nisha, the district administration had asked the Corporation to take appropriate action. The resident had alleged that the building was unsafe.
The Assistant Town Planning Officer, Central Zone, carried out a field inspection in November 2017 and issued a notice to the tenants. In March this year, the premises was sealed. This was under Section 327 of the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Act.
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At the time of inspection, four of the 15 tenants had agreed to vacate the premises. Of those who remained, five tenants moved the Madras High Court seeking quashing of the Corporation’s ‘lock and seal’ operation. On April 26, 2018, the Madras High Court dismissed the petition.
“The court said that the petitioners [five shop owners] had not produced any materials in support of their case. Mere pendency of cases before the civil court and the rent controller were not a bar for the [Corporation] authorities to take action if they found the building was in a dangerous condition. As held by the court, it was the obligation of the authorities to protect the lives of public. The perusal of the photographs produced by the respondents [Corporation] made it clear that the building in question was in a dilapidated condition. Therefore the court did not find any illegality in the action taken by the Corporation,” Mr. Ravichandran said quoting the judgement.
Based on the order, the Corporation had demolished the building, he added.
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