CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has fixed June 15 as the deadline for shifting the iron and steel market from the George Town (GT) residential area to Sathankadu.
A division bench comprising Justice PK Misra and Justice D Hariparanthaman, which fixed the final date for shifting the market, made it clear that any transgression of this direction would obviously result in initiation of proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act.
The Bench was disposing of a public interest writ petition from `Traffic’ K R Ramaswamy and P Vadivelu seeking to implement a GO of the Housing and Urban Development department dated February 23, 1999 that set the deadline as February 28, 1999 for shifting the market.
The Bench observed that this case clearly indicated the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities concerned in implementing the 1999 GO.
Now 10 years had gone. Unfortunately, the things moved only at snail’s pace forcing this court to issue several directions from time to time for the personal appearance of officers concerned and for filing of the status reports.
Considering the nature of the grievance of the people living in the GT area, which was a residential one, who suffered sleepless nights due to the loading and unloading of iron and steel materials and allied industrial activities such as welding, this court took an activ ist approach and issued several directions, which this court would not do in normal conditions, the bench pointed out.
The additional Law Secretary, however, told the court that the infrastructural facilities such as roads, electrical works, administrative and amenity buildings, auto workshop, lorries parking, telephone exchange, police station, petrol bunk, water supply, storm water drains, sewerage connections, public convenience and a weigh bridge were provided and prayed for six more months time to issue the final notification.
Granting time till June 15, 2009, the Bench said that the authorities concerned should take all positive steps to shift the market before the deadline.