In an attempt to unearth a 57-acre archaeological site that had got diminished due to construction of residential and commercial buildings at Pallavaram here, the Madras High Court has ordered for a joint survey by the archaeological as well as revenue authorities from Wednesday to Friday.
Justice N. Kirubakaran directed the Inspector General of Police (North Zone) and Kancheepuram Deputy Inspector General of Police to be present at the site during the survey along with sufficient police force since three attempts made in 2015, 2016 and once this year to survey the lands had failed due to public agitations.
Though Additional Advocate General K. Venkataramani informed the court that the jurisdictional Revenue Divisional Officer had decided to hold a peace committee meeting with the local residents on Thursday, Assistant Solicitor General Su. Srinivasan, representing Archaeological Survey of India, said nothing could be achieved by conducting peace committee meetings.
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After recording their submissions, the judge said that the local residents need not fear of any kind of drastic action due to the conduct of survey. He pointed out that neither they would be asked to vacate nor their buildings would be demolished due to the court’s order to simply survey the area and earmark the protected archaeological site.