CHENNAI: The Madras High Court gave the State government time till end of May to hold hearing and dispose of the pending appeals objecting to the notice that the Greater Chennai Corporation issued to owners of resorts and bungalows, including celebrities, politicians and businessmen, for constructing buildings near the seashore along the East Coast Road (ECR).
Earlier, cases had been filed against bungalows and resorts constructed within 500 metres of the seashore, between Neelankarai and Uthandi in Chennai, allegedly in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.
Following the earlier orders of the High Court in this matters, the Greater Chennai Corporation had issued notices to 798 building owners in 2018. Among the noticees were industrialists, educationists, doctors, businessmen, film actors and politicians, including Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, Rajya Sabha member Kamal Haasan, and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay.
After a gap of six years, the cases were listed again before a division bench comprising Justices Anita Sumanth and Mummineni Sudheer Kumar. When the matter came up for hearing, the State government submitted that 440 out of the 798 property owners had filed statutory appeals before the government challenging the corporation's notices, but only 84 of those appeals had been disposed of as on date. The rest are still pending, it added.
The senior counsel, who was appointed as amicus curiae to assist the court in the case, submitted before the bench that it was very important to protect the long coastline in Chennai, not only because it was aesthetically pleasing but also because it has to be preserved from an environmental point of view.
He further sought the court to order enumeration of unauthorised constructions even beyond Uthandi so that action could be initiated against those buildings as well.
Recording the submissions, the bench granted time until March 30 for the appellants to submit their explanations in respect of the pending appeals. The authorities were directed to conduct hearings and pass orders on or before May 31.
The matter has been adjourned to February 27 for further hearing.