Two residents of Choolai are facing the ire of the Madras high court, as they had first obtained the court's nod to de-seal their sealed buildings for demolishing unauthorised portions, but abused the judicial relief by letting out the illegal portions for rent without carrying out any rectification.
Now, the first bench has ordered the immediate sealing of the premises, disconnection of water and electricity supply , and action against civic officials for their collusive behavior.
The building at door no. 97, Astabujam Road in Choolai, Chennai-112, was supposed to be a stilt-plus-two floor structure as per the building sanction. But its owners Radha Agarwal and Lalitha Agarwal converted stilt into an occupied portion, and built four additional floors. The building was sealed on January 20, 2015.
The Agarwals then moved the high court to remove the lock and seal of the building to enable them to rectify the position. On February 2, 2015, a division bench permitted the request with a condition that the entire unauthorised structure should be removed within two months, failing which the corporation authorities would take punitive action.
“We are informed that all that has happened as a consequence of de-sealing is that the ground, first and second floors are occupied. Prima facie, Radha Agarwal and Lalitha Agarwal played a fraud on the court and now they seem to evade service, as notices are stated to have been returned unserved, alleging that the premises are locked,“ said the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagna nam.
The issue was brought to the court's notice by a neighbour, B Sukumar, who wanted action against the Agarwals for having illegally constructed additional floors without obtaining permission from CMDA.
The judges, pointing out that the corporation and CMDA officials had failed to file their replies to the petition, gave them two weeks to file counter-affidavits failing which it would be accepted only on payment of `10,000 as cost per counter-affidavit.
“This is not the only case where the Chennai Corpora tion has turned a blind eye to blatant violations. We find it difficult to believe that all this is possible without active collusion of corporation officials,“ the judges said.
The judges said the building should be immediately sealed and its original position restored within three days, with police assistance.
The case was then adjourned to October 13 for further hearing.
