CHENNAI: Upset over the delay in filing a report on encroachment of waterbodies, the Madras High Court on Wednesday warned that it may have to summon the Chief Secretary to the court, if the government failed to submit a comprehensive status report in this regard. The court had sought a report on the number of waterbodies, encroachments made on them and the steps taken to clear them.
When a batch of petitions regarding encroachments on waterbodies, including the Chitlapakkam lake in Chennai, came up for hearing before the first bench of Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice PD Audikesavalu, additional advocate general (AAG) J Ravindran sought time till the first week of February to file the comprehensive report.
Enraged over the delay caused already and the government seeking more time, the bench said the court could not allow lethargy and may have to summon the Chief Secretary to the court if the report is not filed in a week. It pointed out that more than two-and-a-half years have passed since the court issued the orders for submitting a report.
“No further time should have been given. But as an exception and last opportunity, we provide one week’s time to comply.. It is made clear that if compliance decision is not made, the court will have no option but to secure the presence of the presiding officer (CS),” the bench said.
It posted the petitions to December 8 for further hearing and warned there would be no leniency from the court if the report was not placed as directed. Justice Bhandari noted that Tamil Nadu has been suffering flood as well as scarcity only because of encroachments on waterbodies.
AAG Ravindran submitted through one more status report, that the Chief Secretary had chaired a meeting of top officials last month and issued necessary instructions to look into waterbody encroach-ments. He said District Collectors were directed to clear all encroachments on waterbodies and review removal of encroachments every month.