MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court summoned Madurai collector and assistant director of panchayats in a contempt petition filed against the collector for permitting a man to put up constructions on a government land in Paravai, despite an order passed by the court to remove the encroachments on the land.
The petitioner S Balamurugan submitted that the land was originally classified as a 'government tharisu land'. Following his petition last year, the court, on November 11, 2022, had directed the authorities to remove the land encroachments in three months.
But the authorities, attempting to help C Raja, who is the husband of the present panchayat chairman, are trying to convert the said land into a town panchayat land. They also permitted Raja to prepare a layout encroaching the land by constructing a high-level water tank. Calling this an attempt to dilute the court's order and to help Raja and Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Pvt Ltd have road access to the adjoining plots, he filed the contempt petition.
A Bench of justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri, who heard the matter on Wednesday, castigated the two authorities and directed them to appear before the court with an explanation at the next hearing on April 25.