Corporation draws judges’ ire over illegal constructions

Passing orders on suo moto contempt petition pertaining to an unauthorised construction in Neelankarai, the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan, on perusing a report of the Commissioner, who was present in the court, sought the Commissioner to “not let any unnecessary interference with his work by persons, who have nothing to do with his job and that he should be able to his task without fear or favour for which court protection is available.” The bench, while coming down heavily on the urban body for failing to take effective deterrent action against erring officials, said, “We say so, as despite, mammoth amount of unauthorised construction, we are informed that not a single person has suffered the punishment of dismissal from service or even compulsory retirement for the last five years.”

The bench also directed the commissioner to ensure that there is at least no continuing unauthorised construction by issuing stop work notice immediately when such construction is detected rather than wait for comparison of the plans.  In the particular building under question located in a water aquifier recharge area in Neelankarai, the total permissible area for construction was a mere 2420 sqft. But in violation of the plan, the person had ended up building an excess of 4344 square feet. This had prompted the court to order the demolition of the two floors that had come up in excess. Based on the assurance that the demolition process had commenced, the bench posted the case to September 30.