High Court allows use of force to evict encroachers from water bodies

The Division Bench, comprising Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice RMT Teekaa Raman, in its order on Thursday, also directed the subordinate courts to abstain from entertaining any petitions pertaining to encroachments on the water bodies and such petitions should be filed only before the present bench. The bench had summoned the appearance of 13 district collectors, who had failed to file reports pertaining to removal of encroachments on the water bodies. However, on recording the appearance of the Revenue Secretary Chandra Mohan on behalf of the said collectors, the bench said that they had summoned the collectors to impress upon them the seriousness of the issue. 

Reiterating its stand on the personal appearance of the district collectors in person on October 12, 2017, the bench also directed the collectors to file the status and progress reports with regard to removal of encroachments in their respective districts on the next date of hearing. The matter relates to a petition from Iyarkai Valam Matrum Perumballa Odai Padukappu Nala Sangam of Erode District, represented by its president K. Shanmugasundaram seeking to protect water bodies from the encroachment and in particular seeking to remove the obstruction to ensure free flow of water in Perumballa Odai of Erode district.