The city corporation and the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) have both been pulled up and fined by the Madras High Court, for failing to take action against unauthorised constructions along the Muthukadu coastline. The bench pointed out the connivance of the authorities in these constructions and directed them to pay Rs. 25,000 as penalty for dereliction of duty.
The court referred to the recent Supreme Court judgement in the Kerala high rise apartment complex case and stated that just like the illegal buildings constructed in Kochi’s Maradu, unauthorised buildings along ECR also will not survive.
The matter came to light after the court began hearing pleas from the residents of the buildings, seeking re-classification of Akkarai and Sholinganallur villages on the East Coast Road, which have been declared no-development zones under CRZ-II guidelines. However, the court pointed out that hundreds of buildings had come up in a no-development zone and very close to the Bay of Bengal, and several of them without the requisite authorisation.
The bench comprising Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee, further pointed out that the civic bodies, despite issuing notices between 2015 and 2017 to all 798 owners along the coast, failed to follow up on the matter. One of the bungalows in Muttukadu in fact was pulled up for having been constructed extremely close to the sea, and the bench ordered for their power and water supply to by discontinued. Another bungalow, owned by an automotive company was instructed to remove boulders placed to prevent soil erosion.
Coming down sharply on the authorities who had watched on as the violations continued, the court observed that they had totally ‘abdicated their duties and responsibilities’ and had actually aided the construction in a protected zone.
The Bench ordered personal appearances of the secretaries of municipal administration, member-secretary of the CMDA and the Commissioner of the Chennai Corporation. The Rs. 25,000 fine imposed meanwhile will be used to provide basic amenities to schools run by the Corporation.
Speaking to TNM, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash said, “There are some cases of blatant violations and others which fall under a grey area. So, this will require a special team to look into the matter full-time and study the violations. We are going to formulate our framework accordingly. The officials who began this process may have retired or been transferred.
The team has to study the background of the court cases and judgments regarding the violations. After that, we have to see which buildings should be demolished and which ones have to be sent notices. We will definitely follow the court’s mandate. The 2017 survey will be taken as the basis of our study.”
Source: The News Minute