CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation challenging the construction of a new bus stand near the ancient Sri Ulagalantha Perumal Temple in Tirukoilur, observing that PILs cannot be used to question planning decisions without establishing a clear violation of statutory provisions.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and G Arul Murugan said it "must register its strong disapproval" of entertaining PILs based solely on individual impressions or photographs without demonstrating foundational legal violations.
The court held that photographs or bare assertions by a petitioner cannot form the basis for entertaining a PIL or stalling development projects. It added that PILs cannot be reduced to platforms for questioning municipal planning decisions unless there is a clear and undeniable breach of statutory provisions.
The petition was filed by Viswanathan, a Chennai resident, who contended that the proposed bus stand would result in an unnecessary expenditure of public funds as an existing bus stand is located about 400 metres from the proposed site.
He also alleged that the temple is a protected heritage structure, that its properties had been mismanaged or illegally alienated in the past, and that any construction in its vicinity would violate archaeological protection norms. After submitting a representation to the State government in February seeking to halt the project and receiving no response, he moved the High Court.
Dismissing the plea, the Bench said it is a settled principle of administrative law that executive authorities and planning experts are best placed to determine where public infrastructure such as bus stands should be located.
The court observed that municipal and executive authorities are required to assess factors such as public utility, traffic congestion, urban growth and accessibility while making such decisions.
The writ petition was accordingly dismissed.