Water woes in Tharamangalam: Madras HC initiates contempt proceedings against officers

Chennai: The Madras High Court has initiated contempt proceedings against the officials who had failed to implement the order passed by the High Court in June 2021 directing the authorities to provide a drinking water facility to the residents of Tharamangalam in Salem district.

“Even as the former CJ passed a direction to officials in Salem to provide drinking water facility to the locals of Tharamangalam in Salem district, the direction was not implemented till now. Therefore, we are initiating contempt proceedings against the officials, ” Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari observed while heading the first bench with Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy.

CJ MN Bhandari made this observation while the bench was hearing litigation in connection with the construction of buildings in the water bodies in Chennai city.

“The government agencies are building constructions on water bodies and later reclassified the land as a housing site in the city. It was the reason why the city is facing flood and water scarcity, ” the CJ observed, adding, that a few officials are not following the court orders.

The former CJ Sanjib Banerjee initiated a suo-motu case based on a letter sent by a Tharamangalam resident named Sakthivel.

“Since the officers promised to build an overhead tank to provide water supply, the matter was disposed of then. However, it was not done till now, ” Shakthivel said in his letter to the CJ MN Bhandari, which made the bench initiate the contempt proceedings now.