CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday directed the authorities concerned in Puducherry to issue completion and occupancy certificate within a week to all new buildings raised on the premises of JIPMER without insisting upon prior clearance of environment impact assessment (EIA) authority.
A division bench of Justices SS Sundar and N Senthilkumar passed the orders on a petition by JIPMER director Rakesh Aggarwal to direct the Puducherry Planning Authority (PPA) and Science, Technology and Environment department to issue the certificate for constructions on 31,479 sqm area.
Senior counsel G Rajagopalan argued that the 2006 EIA Notification does not warrant prior clearance of environment impact for constructions ranging between 50,000 sqm and 1.50 lakh sqm for hospitals and educational institutions.
However, the authorities have been stressing upon the clearance for issuing the completion and occupancy certificate, leaving certain facilities unoccupied for three years.
It was proposed to raise new building at a cost of Rs 201.41 crore on a 49,479 sqm-area but actual construction was done on 31,479 sqm and works are pending in 18,000 sqm area. When the plan approval was granted by the PPA, it did not inform the applicant that prior environment clearance was mandatory for the constructions, the counsel said.