The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday summoned Tirunelveli Corporation Commissioner and Joint Director of Town and Country Planning Department, Tirunelveli, in response to a public interest litigation petition on unauthorised construction of a building at Palayamkottai in the district.
A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi summoned the officials and directed them to be present before the court during the next hearing via video conferencing in order to ascertain the facts of the case. The status report submitted by authorities confirmed the building violation.
The court was hearing the PIL plea filed by S. Ferdin Rayan of Palayamkottai, who complained that the building, V.J. Hospital, was built in violation of the approved plan. Mandatory safety measures and requirements were not followed. Under the circumstances, the owner of the hospital was putting up additional construction on adjacent land, extending the existing structure.
He said that through an RTI reply he found out that the building plan approval was obtained for a commercial building. Instead, a hospital was functioning there.
He sought direction to authorities concerned to take steps against the illegal/unauthorised construction. Also, legal action must be taken against those involved.
In a status report submitted to the court, the Joint Director of Town and Country Planning Department said the plan was approved for construction of a commercial shop building (medical). After the approval, a hospital was built which exceeded the approved area. Permission was granted to take action against the unauthorised construction and a notice was issued to the hospital owner.
The judges adjourned the case for further hearing by a week.
