The Hindu : Front Page : Bench raps Municipal Commissioner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 11, 2006

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Front Page

Bench raps Municipal Commissioner

Staff Reporter

For filing a false affidavit and fabricating records to justify his "exercise of power"

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has condemned the Municipal Commissioner of Bodinaickanur in Theni district for abusing his official authority to abet two landlords evict their tenant, besides filing a false counter affidavit and fabricating the records. While the Commissioner was directed to pay Rs.10,000 as costs to the Chief Justice Relief Fund, the landlords were ordered to pay Rs.10,000 to the tenant within two weeks.

Allowing a writ petition moved by the tenant, Justice K. Mohan Ram said, "The first respondent (Commissioner), being a public authority vested with responsible duties and functions, has abused the powers by colluding with the second respondent (landlords), which is deprecated and condemned." The petitioner, B.K.S. Mahendran, claimed that there was a dispute between him and his landlord and obtained a favourable order from the District Munsif Court.

Subsequently, the landlords colluded with the Commissioner, who issued an order to demolish the building claiming it to be in a dilapidated condition and posing a threat to visitors to a nearby temple.

The petitioner's counsel, M. Ajmal Khan, contended that the demolition order was issued with a mala fide intention without any spot inspection by competent authorities. , The Commissioner, in his counter affidavit, claimed that the order was passed pursuant to a complaint given by a forum of temple devotees, `Thirukovil Bakthargal Peravai,' and after personal inspection of the premises along with the Municipal Engineer.

The letter

To verify the veracity of the claim, the Judge called for the records from the Municipality. The Judge found that a letter, claimed to have been written by the `Peravai,' referred only to some services rendered during the `tsunami' and did not mention any complaint with regard to the rented building. The Municipal Commissioner had written the postal address of the building on the bottom of the letter with a note to the Assistant Engineer to inspect the premises and submit a report.

The date in the letter had also been corrected to suit the averments made in the counter affidavit.

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