Chennai: “Encroachment is a social evil. Encroachment causes infringement of rights of all other citizen. Encroachment creates a bad precedent in the mind of people that no action will be taken in the event of encroaching the public land. Thus, the authorities competent must be vigilant over the public lands, water bodies and water resources”, the Madras high court has observed.
Declining to grant any relief sought for in a batch of petitions from Venkatasubramani and others, who are running shops in Coonoor Bus stand, challenging the notices issued under the Land Encroachment Act, Justice S. M. Subramaniam said even in the counter affidavit, it is stated that “an extent of 0.84.80 hectares of Coonoor town of Coonoor taluk is registered as “river” in the revenue records. One can visualize near Coonoor bus stand, a river is flowing and in the banks of river, the bus stand is situated. If the encroachments are allowed in such sensitive areas, it would not only cause nuisance to the public in general, but it will hamper the further developments of the bus stand as well as the public roads, the judge added.
The judge said in the event of allowing all such encroachments, the developmental activities cannot be proceeded with. There is no possibility of expansion of the road for the usage of the public at large. In the absence of expansion of roads in that locality, it will create traffic congestion and people traveling to Udhagamandalam cannot reach their destination within a reasonable period of time. All these are causing greater and greater nuisance to the public at large. Every one of us should be sensitive in respect of all such encroachment in main roads and more specifically, in bus stands, the judge added.
The judge said, “On a perusal of the entire affidavits and counter affidavits, this court is of an opinion that the actions taken by the competent authorities were being challenged by the petitioners on several occasions and by the litigants for personal gains in one way or other and not allowed the authorities to proceed with the eviction. Even the present petitions, which were filed in the year 2004, is kept pending for about 14 years. For the past 14 years, the petitioners are continuing in the encroached portion of the land and this court is able to visualize during the past 14 years, in which, the petitions are pending before this court, lot of activities have improved in Coonoor-Udhagamandalam area and the road usage have been increased considerably and beyond our imagination. Thus, at present the situation will be worse and any further delay would cause greater concern to the district administration as well as to the travelers and the residents of that locality”.
If the officials were inactive and insensitive towards the encroachments in public lands and water bodies, it would amount to infringement of the constitutional rights of other citizens, who all were residing in the nearby places from water bodies, as the same would affect the other citizens to get sufficient water. Thus, the infringement amounts to violation of constitutional rights ensured to all other citizens. It was the duty of the State to preserve the water bodies and protect ecological balances. Such being the constitutional perspectives and duty of the State, the State authorities were bound to act in respect of all such encroachments, the judge added.
