Collector’s order curbing civic chief’s powers stayed

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court issued an interim stay against the order of Kancheepuram Collector suspending the signing powers of the president and vice president of Uthukadu village panchayat in Walajabad block.

The Collector had passed that order as the elected representatives of the panchayat failed to adopt a resolution to transfer 2.34 acres of government land to a private company.

Panchayat president Savithiri Manikandan and her deputy L Vanaja prayed for a direction to quash the Collector’s order dated November 28 suspending their powers to deal with the local body’s finance, and to issue permission for construction and issue licence.

“The letter issued by the BDO indicates that they sought transfer of Anadeenam land around 2.34 acres to CGD Space Core Pvt Ltd. As the panchayat has not passed the resolution as requested by the BDO, it appears that consequential orders have been passed. In such a view of the matter, the petitioners have made a prima facie case for grant of stay,” held Justice N Sathish Kumar.

The petitioners said they sought details of the company before adopting the resolution. But instead of providing the details, the officials threatened that the president, vice president and ward members would face consequences, Savithiri claimed in the petition.

“The collector passed the order without issuing a show-cause notice to us. The act is completely in violation of Section 202 (2) of Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994,” the petitioner added.