CHENNAI: The Supreme Court has ordered status quo in the case regarding classification of 13,720 hectares of land in 27 villages on the outskirts of Chennai as catchment areas of Red Hills reservoir. The SC order came on an appeal filed by the state government against a Madras High Court ruling in May last year which held the classification of the land as water catchment area as ‘unconstitutional’.
A Supreme Court bench of justices Pankaj Mithal and Ahsanuddin Amannulah on Friday posted the matter to March 4, after hearing the arguments of the Tamil Nadu government. Condoning the 21-day delay in filing the appeal by the state government, the court issued notices seeking response from various parties involved in the case within six weeks.
A Madras HC bench had ruled against the classification of the land as catchment area of Red Hills reservoir on the grounds of lack of scientific study and failure to acquire the land within three years of notification. The classification was carried out as per the Second Master Plan of Chennai Metropolitan Area.
Two companies, Global Waste Recycling Limited and B T Enterprises Private Limited, had approached the Madras HC against the CMDA order issued in 2017 to lock, seal and demolish the structures of the firms located at Alamathi village in Sholavaram panchayat union. The CMDA had said that the structures were built on land that comes under the catchment area of Red Hills lake.
BT Enterprises, which was represented by senior advocate P Wilson, and Global Waste Recycling Limited have sought a month’s time to file their counter before the apex court. The state was represented by senior advocate Raju Ramachandran.