The Madras High Court on Friday called for a report from Housing and Urban Development Secretary on the number of statutory appeals pending with the government under the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning (TTCP) Act of 1971, urging the officials to review sealing of unauthorised buildings.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Venugopal and S. Vaidyanathan called for the details while hearing a contempt of court petition filed against Rajesh Lakhoni, secretary of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and C. Mathivanan, Commissioner of Avadi Municipality for non compliance of an order passed on January 5.
The order was to demolish the unauthorised portion of a building in the municipality. However, the officials had not reportedly complied with the order under the guise that a statutory appeal filed by the building owner, under Section 80 of the TTCP Act, was pending before the government authorities.
Irked over such a submission, the judges pointed out that they had, in several decisions, held that there was no bar to take action such as disconnecting electricity supply to the unauthorised portions of a building even if the statutory appeal was pending with the officials concerned under TTCP Act.
Disciplinary action
Further, in another case, they had called for details of the number of such appeals pending with the government. Yet, “the authorities are trying to hoodwink this court,” by not submitting the details and also by aiding the unauthorised constructions, the judges said, and insisted on taking disciplinary action against such officials.
The Bench also said that officials who cite pendency of writ petitions filed by owners of unauthorised constructions for not taking action against them should be dismissed from service. “Before dismissing from service, they must be transferred to a non-sensitive post and place and their dereliction should be registered in the service register,” they added.
The judge finally issued statutory notice to Mr. Mathivanan in the contempt petition requiring his presence in the court on February 4. Dealing with another case, the Division Bench called for a status report from Kancheepuram Collector on removal of encroachments from a channel running between Chembarampakkam lake and Manapakkam.
In this order, the judges said that the officials could take coercive action such as disconnection of not only electricity but also water supply to the encroachers who refuse to vacate. In yet another case, the Bench ordered demolition of an unauthorised building in Avadi municipality with police protection, if necessary.
