Madras high court orders corpn to take action on officials
The bench was passing further interim orders on a batch of petitions from Suresh Krishna and others.
Chennai: The Madras high court on Tuesday made it clear that if the commissioner, Corporation of Chennai, is not going to take appropriate action against the officials, who have issued the notice without reference to the order of this court, to the residents (including actor Kamal Haasan), who have put up constructions allegedly coming under Coastal Regulation Zone in Uthandi and Sholinganallur, appropriate action will be taken against the commissioner, Corporation of Chennai, apart from asking him to appear before the court.
A division bench comprising Justices M. Venugopal and S. Vaidyanathan posted to April 9 for the filing of the interim report in respect of Injambakkam and Neelankarai.
The bench was passing further interim orders on a batch of petitions from Suresh Krishna and others, which sought a direction to the National Coastal Zone Management Authority and the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority to consider the re-classification of Akkarai village, Sholinganallur Panchayat on the East Coast Road as CRZ-II as per the guidelines contained in the government of India notification dated February 19, 1991.
The bench said when these cases were taken up for hearing on February 1, this court passed an order, which, among other things stated that “All the residents are directed to be informed by the Corporation of Chennai and other officials about the pendency of the present batch of petitions in the notice and if they are interested, they shall enter an appearance in these matters. This court also makes it clear that the left out residents cannot at a later point in time, contend that they have no opportunity of being heard”.
Additional advocate general P.H. Arvindh Pandian submitted that notice has been issued with regard to the construction of buildings without planning permission and in violation of the sanctioned plan, in Uthandi and Sholinganallur and that objections have been called for.
“We make it clear that if the commissioner, Corporation of Chennai, is not going to take appropriate action against the officials, who have issued the notice without reference to the order of this court, and place them in a non-sensitive post, appropriate action will be taken against him, apart from asking him to appear before this court”, the bench added.