Madras High Court concedes defeat in preventing illegal constructions due to money power, but says it will continue the fight

Madras High Court laments failure to prevent illegal constructions due to money power, vows to continue fight.

The Madras High Court has conceded to have “completely failed” in its attempts to prevent illegal/unauthorised constructions put up by individuals in collusion with government officials concerned, because of the money power possessed by the violators.

A Division Bench of Justices R. Subramanian and R. Sakthivel lamented that the authorities ensured strict enforcement of the rules only against the economically weaker sections of society but turn a blind eye to blatant flouting of rules by the affluent. “This shows that only the mighty, the rich, and the powerful can survive in this State, and they will be helped by these enforcement agencies to the maximum extent possible,” the Bench said while deciding to continue the fight against such illegalities without losing hope.

“Though this court has been making repeated attempts to stop flagrant violations, with the active collusion of the officials concerned, we must acknowledge that our attempts have completely failed because of the money power that the violators possess. However, we do not propose to stop making our attempts since we have the faith and hope that we will succeed at some point of time,” the judges wrote.

The observations were made while disposing of a writ petition filed by former Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan complaining about the noise pollution due to the laying of pile foundation for an 11-storey private hospital on St. Mary’s Road in Alwarpet, Chennai.

After the filing of the case on January 2, 2024, the judges learnt that the construction works had begun even before issuance of building plan approval by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), but the latter had not issued a stop work notice until the court took cognisance of the issue.

The records revealed that the Headmaster of St. Francis Xavier’s Matriculation School, located close to the construction site, had complained to the Chennai Collector as early as September 4, 2023 regarding the cracks that had developed in the school buildings because of the nearby construction work.

The letter was forwarded to CMDA officials on November 7, 2023. An inspection, carried out on November 16, 2023, revealed that the piling works was under way at the site, but the officials referred the issue to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) for further action.