MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Monday issued notice to the State government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed to direct the government to construct the Thirumangalam bus stand in Venkatasamuthiram village in Madurai, as per the GO passed by it, instead of demolishing and reconstructing it in the existing location within the town.
The litigant, V Ganesan of Thirumangalam, submitted that the decision to construct a new bus stand at Venkatasamuthiram village was taken as early as 2019 and a GO to that effect was passed on January 25, 2022. The decision was taken only after considering the growing population, infrastructure, and traffic congestion as the existing bus stand was built around 36 years ago, he added.
But following the municipal council election early this year, the newly-elected members of the Thirumangalam municipality decided not to construct the new bus stand and to utilize the project funds for demolition and reconstruction of the existing bus stand, he alleged. Calling this illegal, Ganesan requested the court to forbear the municipality from doing so and direct it to proceed with the project as per the GO
A Bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar issued notice to the authorities concerned and adjourned the case for two weeks.