Owner allowed to use OSR land due to lax maintenance by Corporation

Justice S Vaidyanathan, on recording the petitioner’s assurance that she will not construct any building in the open space and is willing to plant saplings in that area and abide by the conditions stipulated by the Corporation, directed the petitioner to keep the open space gifted to the Corporation.

The petitioner Vanita Manickavasagam had contended that she had constructed a building at Anna Salai, Chennai in 2009 and in order to get sanction from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), an area of 100 square metres was handed over to the Chennai Corporation under the nomenclature of Open Space Reservation Area, as per Rule 19 of the Development Control Rules for Chennai Metropolitan area.

But now, lack of maintenance of the gifted area has resulted in it turning into a dump yard, leading to the tenants complaining about bad odour coupled with flies and mosquitoes swarming the building, the petitioner submitted and sought for the return of the land as the intended purpose of keeping the land for communal and recreation purposes had not been met. She had submitted that the rule of gifting should not have been applicable in her case, as the surrendered area is very small, making it impossible for the Corporation to look after it with responsibility and care.

However, though the Corporation contended that the gifted land cannot be conveyed and with the petitioner willing to restrict her plea to merely maintaining the area, Justice Vaidyanathan disposed the case in her favour after observing that space is the secret of successful living in this planet and without space we are devoid of all the other elements like sun, water, and air.