Spell out action taken against construction without planning permission, Madras HC directs Greater Chennai Corporation

A view of the Ripon building, the seat of Greater Chennai Corporation. File
| Photo Credit: M. Srinath

The Madras High Court on Monday, February 12, 2024 suo motu impleaded Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) as one of the respondents to a writ petition and wanted to know the action being taken by it against those who construct buildings without obtaining planning permission either from the corporation or the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).

Justices R. Subramanian and R. Sakthivel directed the Registry to issue notice to the GCC Commissioner forthwith so that the issue could be heard next on February 27. The interim orders were passed on the writ petition filed by former Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan complaining about noise pollution caused by construction of a private hospital at St. Mary’s Road in Alwarpet.

The Senior Counsel brought it to the notice of the court that the pile foundation for the 10-storey private hospital, being constructed about 150-metres away from his apartment since July 2023, was causing much annoyance to the residents in the locality. After the court’s intervention, it came to light that the hospital had not obtained planning permission from CMDA.

A status report filed by the CMDA, through its standing counsel Y. Bhuvanesh Kumar, stated that the planning permission for the hospital would be issued on payment of necessary charges. Since the permission was yet to be issued, the judges stayed the construction and made it clear that the pendency of the writ petition shall not be an impediment to grant permission if the application was in order.

When the judges wanted to know how the CMDA allowed the construction work since July without grant of building plan permission, Additional Advocate General P. Kumaresan told the court that it was the GCC that had to keep a check on illegal constructions. Therefore, the Bench impleaded the GCC, represented by its Commissioner, suo motu and ordered notice to it.

In the meantime, the judges also expressed displeasure over a report filed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), pursuant to its February 2 interim direction, since it did not contain details about the mechanism that had been put in place by it to keep a check on violation of air and noise pollution norms while constructing buildings in residential areas.

The judges directed Additional Government Pleader M.R. Gokulakrishnan to ensure that the TNPCB files another report by February 27 clearly indicating the measures taken by it to keep a check on large scale construction activities where there was a likelihood of breach of permitted noise levels. They said, it was a vital query which had not been answered in the report filed on Monday.