A 74-year-old retired professor of Urban Engineering from Anna University has filed a public interest litigation petition in the Madras High Court challenging a Government Order passed on January 22 proposing to expand the Chennai metropolitan planning area from 1,189 to 8,878 sq. km.
The petitioner, K.P. Subramanian, claimed that the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) was unable to implement the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act of 1971 effectively even within the existing metropolitan area and therefore, it would be highly improbable for it to do so in a much bigger area.
He pointed out that the Act empowers the CMDA to survey the lands and prepare detailed master plans and development plans. The law also authorises the Authority to undo unauthorised developments and also to stop those that had been developed in contravention of the permission granted by it.
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‘Violations will increase’
Claiming that the CMDA does not have the manpower and infrastructural facilities to enforce the law on an expanse of over 8,000 sq.km, the litigant said that handing over such a mammoth task to the authority would only lead to more number of cases being filed in court in connection with building violations.
Mr. Subramanian also claimed that it was not sufficient to call for objections from the inhabitants of proposed contiguous areas. Since the proposed expansion would affect the quality of life and standard of living of all, objections should be called for even from those residing within the existing metropolitan area, he said.
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Further, pointing out that Section 9 of the Act requires the CMDA to review the master plan once in five years, the petitioner said such an exercise had not been carried out even once within the metropolitan area.