MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday summoned the tahsildar and block development officer of Guziliamparai, following allegations that the officials had demolished a house without issuing a survey notice.
On August 8, 2023, while disposing of a batch of petitions filed by individuals against the removal of encroachments from a waterbody, the high court bench directed authorities from the revenue department to conduct a proper survey after issuing notice to the petitioners. If the petitioner's construction is found to be located on the waterbody, it may be demolished, a bench of justices GR Swaminathan and B Pugalendhi had said in the order.
But one of the petitioners moved a contempt petition before the division bench on Thursday, alleging a violation of the aforesaid order. "Even though this court had specifically directed the revenue authorities to issue notices to petitioners before conducting a survey, no notice was issued," the petitioner's counsel contended, adding that the house was demolished on Thursday morning.
After hearing the plea, the judges directed the government counsel to ascertain whether the Guziliamparai tahsildar and BDO issued a survey notice to the petitioners, and further directed the authorities to submit a copy of the survey sketch to the court. They further ordered both Tahsildar and BDO to be present before the court at the next hearing on Tuesday.