A lake that never was but in public record

CHENNAI: A case before the Madras High Court is proof about the mechanical way government documents are maintained. A petitioner from Villupuram filed a writ complaining that the authorities are attempting to raise a toilet complex on a water body at Ural village near Tindivanam.

The litigant who projected himself as a saviour of Mother Nature had wanted the court to prevent such a construction. If you’re wondering how a toilet could be built on a water body, a look at the government records would boggle anyone’s mind.

According to the revenue records, the spot chosen by the authorities to build the public toilet was a lake. Nevertheless, the government advocate made it clear that the construction was not exactly on the water body and furnished the photographs of the place where not even a drop of water was seen.

Sensing the disparity between the title of the said place in the government records and in actuality, the judge held that the photographs annexed in the petition clearly showed that the construction was not inside the lake and that the photographs showed no presence of a water body.

The court also rejected the petition allowing the government to go ahead with the construction, as it was a long-time demand of the public. This case is an example to the mechanical way the government system functions. We’re still plagued by colonial hang-ups that slap us in the face now and then.