Govt: Steps taken to clear encroachments in Chitlapakkam lake

The submission was made before the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, after the court had warned the government during the earlier hearing on March 23 that it was completely unacceptable that despite the passage of nearly 18 months, the affidavit regards encroachment on Chitlapakkam lake was not forthcoming.

Based on this, the government had submitted that action was taken against the 403 encroachers under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks and Eviction of Encroachment Act, 2007. It also informed the court that several of those, who were issued notices, have challenged them by directly carrying writ petitions to the court. “The writ petitions are to be heard together as a batch matter and individual orders of stay have been passed in some of the matters,” the State said in its affidavit.

However, the bench, on recording the same, directed the relevant authorities, including the Tambaram Tahsildar, to take all necessary steps following the law to ensure that all encroachments are removed from the waterbody.

“The State should also aggressively deal with the matters filed in the court. It should also ensure that adequate safeguards are in place, including engagement of personnel for daily inspection, so that no further encroachment takes place at all,” the bench stressed while posting the plea for further hearing to July 07.The PIL had complained of encroachments in the Chitlapakkam lake by offering the various survey numbers, where such encroachments have transpired.