The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : CMDA lists hurdles to demolitions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

CMDA lists hurdles to demolitions

Special Correspondent

Stay orders, full occupancy among reasons

No machinery to enforce vacation of buildings
CMDA awaiting further guidance from the court

Chennai: Interim stay orders by the Madras High Court, full occupancy of the buildings identified for demolition and the lack of details of property, electricity and water tax receipts are some of the reasons holding up the demolition drive against unauthorised constructions, the High Court has been told.

In an action taken report (ATR) filed before the First Bench comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice P. Jyothimani, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) Member-Secretary Mohammed Nasimuddin said courts had granted injunction orders in respect of 24 cases, against the action recommended by the court-appointed Monitoring Committee.

“Even in respect of cases where individual rejection letters have been sent based on the High Court’s order setting aside the regularisation schemes, 22 applicants have got an injunction orders,” he said.

The ATR, filed by the CMDA counsel J. Ravindran, said that since most of the unauthorised constructions were occupied, vacating the premises and handing over the vacant possession of the buildings for demolition was a “difficult proposition.” It said the CMDA did not have the machinery to vacate the buildings and that it required coordinated action by all authorities, including the TNEB, Metrowater, Corporation, Police, Fire and Revenue departments.

Measures

Vacating buildings could be achieved in most of the cases by disconnecting water and sewerage and electricity supply, it said. It also added that in four cases, even after disconnection courts had intervened and directed restoration of the supply.

The CMDA said that as per the court order, a list of erring builders from out of the cases already examined, had been prepared and that it would be placed before the Monitoring Committee at its next meeting.

“The nature of action to be taken against the erring builders will be decided by the Monitoring Committee,” it added. A list of officials who worked in the Enforcement Unit of the CMDA from January 1998 to March 2007 too has been furnished to the Monitoring Committee for appropriate action.

The CMDA, which had carried out the demolition of four buildings based on the High Court orders, could not demolish another four identified buildings as courts had granted injunction orders restraining the civic agency, the report said.

The report said the CMDA was awaiting further guidance from the court with regard to the refund of regularisation fee collected from persons, whose regularisation applications had been rejected.

282 encroachments

The Chennai Corporation, on its part, said a total of 282 encroachments had been removed from various parts of the city, and that hoardings and projects were removed in Madley subway, Ranganathan Street, Usman Road, Natesan Road and Railway Border Road regions.

The entire batch of petitions, relating to the implementation of the High Court order, is pending before the First Bench, which on June 6 directed the CMDA to furnish an action taken report.

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