110 Tasmac shops on farmlands to be shut

A division bench of Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the order on a PIL by Nallaswamy seeking to close a liquor shop opened in an agricultural land in Erode.

Noting that Tasmac opened shops in buildings without planning permission solely for revenue, the court said, “As per the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, no individual is permitted to proceed with construction without planning permission. When an individual has to follow the provisions of the Act, the same cannot be breached or diluted by the TASMAC, by opening shops in buildings without planning permission.”

“When sealing, locking and even demolition is applicable to an individual, Tasmac cannot open shops in such buildings. Law is applicable to both… It is evident that Tasmac has opened shops in building without any planning permission solely for the purpose of revenue and that in the case on hand, on agricultural lands,” the bench added.

The bench also declined to accept the request of Advocate General Vijay Narayan that Tasmac would collect the planning permission from the land owners of the building within three weeks. To this, the bench said, “Even taking it for granted that the land owners have not submitted the planning permission, authorities could have very well ascertained from the Town and Country Planning authorities/local bodies, where the buildings are located and not necessarily from the building owners.”

It also directed the authorities concerned to produce planning permission of 2,728 such shops located in village panchayats and posted the case to March 18 for further hearing.