The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the authorities to take steps to remove the encroachments on a water canal in Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district. The court has also directed the authorities to conduct a proper survey in this regard.
The court was hearing the petition filed by Meharrunisha Begam of Ramanathapuram district. She purchased a site in 1998. It was said that the petitioner appeared to have encroached to an extent of 316 sq. mts. Venthoni vaikkal was running through the survey numbers. The petitioner challenged the notices issued to her.
The court was told that the government had issued a G.O. in 1995 alienating a portion of the canal in favour of Paramakudi Municipality. However, Paramakudi Municipality was mandated to use the alienated land only for drainage purposes. It was made clear that no building should be constructed on the alienated portion and that it was not used for any commercial purposes by the municipality. The State submitted that there was no proposal to issue patta in respect of the remaining extent of the water canal.
A Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and B. Pugalendhi observed that the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court had already held that any waterbody will have to be maintained as such. The court observed that the question of interfering with the notices does not arise. However, the court made it clear that the construction put up by the petitioner on her patta land shall not be touched.
It is seen from the records that apart from the petitioner, there were a number of other encroachments. The authorities were directed to conduct a proper survey and ensure that all the encroachments on the canal were removed as expeditiously as possible. The petitioner alone cannot be selectively targeted, the court observed and dismissed the petition.
