CHENNAI: Six apartments, with a cumulative built-up area of 7,492 sq ft in Neelankarai on the scenic East Coast Road, constructed by P Devaraji, a manager in a nationalised bank, would soon be reduced to rubble. What’s more? Apart from losing a few crore rupees at which the property is valued at, Devaraji would also end up paying the Chennai Corporation the cost incurred by it in razing the ground-plus-three-floor structure.
That’s not all the price that he has to pay for audaciously misleading the Madras High Court and violating building rules. He would also have to battle contempt of court proceedings initiated by the first bench of Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam. If proved guilty, Devaraji may end up in jail.
Devaraji’s misadventure began in 2011 when he started construction work on Plot No 448, South Cross Street at Kapaleeswarar Nagar in Neelankarai in deviation of the approved plan for putting up a structure with a built-up area of 2,148 sq ft. Over the next year as the building took shape, his neighbour R Vadivelu noticed the deviations in the building plan.
In Neelankarai, an ecologically-sensitive area and an aquifer zone, plot owners are permitted to construct only ground-plus-one structure, with a view to preserve groundwater recharge.