CHENNAI: The Madras High Court sought response from authorities on a petition challenging the filling up of a quarry pit and construction of commercial buildings and toilets on a waterbody in Tiruneermalai.

Hearing the matter, a division bench comprising Justices SM Subramaniam and K Surender directed the State Revenue Department and the Chengalpattu district administration to file their response, and adjourned the matter to after the summer vacation.

In his petition, advocate O Udhayakumar, a resident of Tirumangaiyalwarpuram in Tiruneermalai submitted that a land measuring approximately 0.745 ares, which is classified as "quarry pit" (Vettu Pallam), has existed for more than a century on land classified as government poramboke.

It has been unlawfully encroached upon by the Tambaram Corporation, which has proceeded to fill up the waterbody and quarry pit with sand and debris and constructed nearly five commercial complexes and public toilets within the lake situated there, he said in the petition.

He submitted that building a commercial complex over a filled quarry pit was unsafe and hazardous, risking soil instability, subsidence, and possible collapse, thereby endangering lives.

Similarly, constructing toilets within the lake area without proper sewage treatment was illegal and environmentally hazardous, as it can contaminate water, spread diseases, and cause serious public health and ecological damage.

Citing these, the petitioner sought a direction to the authorities to remove the commercial complexes and the public toilets constructed on the reclaimed waterbody.