Chennai district green committee inspects Shenoy Nagar park on High Court directions

Collector M. Aruna headed Chennai district green committee conducted joint inspection of Thiru Vi Ka Park w/ 5-member committee appointed by Madras High Court to suggest steps for restoration. CMRL had cut trees for metro rail work & promised to restore, but failed. Court intervened & ordered joint inspection by both committees. Report to be filed on 7th Sept.

The Chennai district green committee, headed by Collector M. Aruna, conducted a joint inspection of the Thiru Vi Ka Park at Shenoy Nagar on Saturday along with a five-member committee constituted by the Madras High Court in order to suggest steps for restoration of the park to its glory.

The court had ordered for the joint inspection after amicus curiae Chevanan Mohan complained that the park’s restoration work had come to a standstill since May 2023 when Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) moved a Division Bench against the constitution of the five-member committee.

The joint inspection report is expected to be filed before Justice M. Dhandapani on September 7. CMRL had cut many trees from the park for the metro rail work by promising to restore it to its old glory after the construction work. However, the restoration work lacked sufficient green cover leading to the court’s intervention.

After the single judge constituted a five-member committee, CMRL took the order on appeal to a Division Bench on the ground that there was no necessity for such a court-appointed committee when the district green committee was already in existence to look into issues pertaining to environmental concerns.

It was thereafter, Justice Dhandapani had suo motu impleaded the green committee too in the case pending before him and ordered a joint inspection by both the committees.