CHENNAI: Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has been directed by TN State Information Commissioner (TNSIC) to pay Rs 79.08 lakh as compensation to 7,908 students of Chettinad Vidyashram for failing to ensure that the developer of a 13-floor commercial building (a hotel) on the premises of Chettinad House install a board with details of the construction.
Owing to this lapse, the students of Chettinad Vidyashram and parents did not realise that a commercial building was being constructed inside the Chettinad House. They were denied information they sought under the RTI Act.
S Muthuraj, State Information Commissioner, in his order directed CMDA vice-chairman or member secretary to pay the fine within a month. The CMDA, after issuing the plan permission, must also have ensured that the display board was installed on the site, Muthuraj observed.
According to TN Combined Development and Building Rules, details of the construction, date of expiry of permit, name and address of the builder and the architect must be displayed in a prescribed format on a board with a minimum size of 60cm by 120cm.
This violation substantially affected the petitioners -- the students and parents, Muthuraj observed while hearing a petition by V Murugesh, R Vishkia, S Ganesh and B Prashant, alumnus of Raja Muthiah High School, Raja Annamalaipuram.
Wondering how an educational trust acquired permission to build a hotel on the premises of a school, Muthuraj said this portrayed that CMDA issued permission mechanically.
It was observed that the Madras High Court appointed a committee headed by former high court judge E Padmanabhan to survey, identify, and enumerate places of historical importance or aesthetic value or popular places of worship in and around Chennai. It recognised 467 constructions as heritage buildings and assigned grades to buildings or places according to their level of importance. The Chettinad House was given '2A Grade' in the report.
Muthuraj said a high-rise building permission was granted for a hotel with rooms, which implied that the building was eligible to get a bar licence. As per the Prohibition and Excise Act and TN Liquor (Licence and Permit Rules, 1981) the TN banned the sale liquor or tobacco items near schools. The present building comes on the campus of Chettinad Vidhyashram, he observed. The construction of high-rise building would also result in dust and air pollution, he said.
The building required 13,000 tonnes of AC (a ton denotes how much heat an AC unit can remove in an hour. The measurement for heat is the British thermal unit (BTU). A one-ton AC can remove 12,000 BTUs an hour. "A total of 156000000 BTU will be emitted. ...this heat will attack the school students and cause them great harm." As such, the principal of Chettinad Vidhyashram and Vidhyalaya Schools has been ordered to provide this information to the parents of the students. "Let the parents decide if the students should continue in the school," he said in his order.