Madras HC halts apartment construction in Pallikaranai

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday directed Brigade Enterprises Limited to halt construction at its Pallikaranai project until November 12. This interim order was issued in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the building permission granted for the site.

The first division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan passed the order on the PIL filed by AIADMK legal wing office-bearer J Brezhnev.

The petitioner argued that the proposed high-rise apartments fall within the prohibited zone of the Pallikaranai marsh, a wetland of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention. The Tamil Nadu government informed the court that the process of ‘ground truthing’—verifying satellite data with on-site inspections to fix the final boundaries of the 1,248-hectare Ramsar site—is underway and expected to conclude within a fortnight.

The advocate general stated that the land in question is currently a private 'patta' land and had received the necessary environmental clearance from a central and state-constituted authority before the building plan was approved. He also noted that the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal are monitoring the boundary delineation.

Representing Brigade Enterprises, a senior counsel asserted that the land is dry and not a wetland, with ownership records dating back to the ’80s. However, complying with the Bench's insistence, he agreed that no further construction would proceed until the next hearing, acknowledging it was in the company's interest to avoid causing any damage to the site pending the court's decision.