CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Cuddalore district collector and other authorities to remove encroachments on land belonging to the Kamaraj Government General Hospital in Chidambaram within six weeks. The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, issued the order on a petition by K Subramanian of Pallipadai alleging large-scale encroachment.
Recording the submission of Additional Advocate General Suresh Kumar that notices under Section 7 of the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act had been served on all 56 encroachers, the court instructed officials to complete the eviction process and file a compliance report.
The district collector, hospital chief medical officer and Chidambaram municipal commissioner appeared before the court following earlier summons amid a dispute over land control. In his counter-affidavit, the collector said the government poramboke land is marked as “government hospital” in Revenue records and that officials had been repeatedly instructed to act. Advocate B Jaganath represented the petitioner.