George Town encroachments: Wrote to police five times, says GCC; cops say letters not clear

CHENNAI: Despite sending as many as five letters, the police failed to provide security to the officials to remove encroachments in the George Town area as instructed by the court, the Greater Chennai Corporation informed the Madras High Court.

In response, the Additional Public Prosecutor appearing for the police submitted that the letters sent by the corporation were not clear.

Livid over the blame game that played out in front of it, a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan suo motu impleaded the Home Secretary and the DGP, and directed them to take disciplinary action against the officials who failed to comply with the orders of the court and the government.

The bench was hearing a contempt of court petition alleging that the authorities failed to implement the court’s earlier order on clearing encroachments. While the civic body blamed the police for not providing its officials security despite raising the matter five times, the police claimed that the letters that it sent were not clear.

The judges observed that such lack of coordination between government departments would ultimately affect the public, and added that coordinated functioning of all departments was fundamental to ensuring that the administration functioned smoothly.

The court also directed that a report be filed on the disciplinary action taken, and adjourned the case to January 5.