CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday granted an interim stay against the order passed by the Kancheepuram District Collector declaring the Moulivakkam building collapse area as danger zone. However, the court made it clear that the petitioner has to take the risk and bear the consequences in the event of collapse of the surviving twin of the ill-fated building in the site. Arun Enterprise, represented by its partner C Dakshinamoorthy, submitted that the company was working out of its registered office at Kundrathur High Road, Moulivakkam, Porur, Chennai since 2011.
On June 28, 2014, one among the two 11-storey buildings located in the adjacent site of its office collapsed killing 61 people. Subsequent to the incident on July 1, the district collector of Kancheepuram passed an order declaring 50 meters surrounding the surviving block in the collapse site as “danger zone”, he added. People living in the area including the petitioner were evicted from their property with immediate effect. Aggrieved, the petitioner made several representations to the authorities to declassify his property from the danger zone. As he received no response from the officials, the petitioner moved the High Court contending that the order has been passed arbitrarily without issuing any notice to the aggrieved persons and without conducting any enquiry. He added that order is a perpetual one, as it has no time limit mentioned and sought to stay its operation.