MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the joint commissioner of the Palani Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple and Palani tahsildar to ensure that no unauthorised commercial activities are conducted in the 'giriveedhi', or around the temple, and sought a compliance report on February 7.
The direction was issued by a bench of justices, D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar, after perusing the reports submitted by the joint commissioner as well as the Palani municipality commissioner, in a batch of petitions, including a contempt petition, filed in connection with the issue.
The bench also asked for further reports from the monitoring committee, which was appointed by Justice V Bharathidasan, to help in coming up with a permanent solution.
The joint commissioner stated in his report that based on earlier directions, the temple administration has installed iron pillars on the roads leading to the giriveedhi, to prevent movement of vehicles and pushcarts. The temple administration has also set up a temporary tourist bus stand on a two-acre land near south giriveedhi area, which can accommodate 100 tourist vehicles, along with a temporary path from the bus stand to the bypass road (viz - Idumban Malai Adivaaram) without touching the giriveedhi area.
Earlier, the tourist vehicles used the giriveedhi area for incoming and outgoing purposes, which created traffic bottlenecks there, the judges noted. So far, 37 survey stones have been laid around the giriveedhi, and the remaining will be laid after the completion of the survey, the report further revealed.
Meanwhile, Palani tahsildar filed a compliance report elaborating on the nature of encroachments found in the poramboke lands situated in the giriveedhi area and link roads connecting the hill temple, and added that most of the said lands are used by devotees during padayatra. Since lakhs of devotees are visiting the temple for Thaipoosam festival, the tahsildar sought six weeks time to complete the survey.
Perusing the reports, the judges directed the monitoring committee to conduct an inspection to verify the veracity of the reports, check for any fresh encroachments in the giriveedhi, and file a report at the next hearing. Noting that the aforesaid reports are silent about the steps taken to close the commercial activities run illegally on the girivalam path, the judges issued the aforesaid direction and adjourned the case to February 7.
HC calls for reports on unauthorised constructions; criticises authorities for inaction
Criticising the lack of action on matters relating to the removal of unauthorised constructions in cities and municipalities, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently called for detailed reports on illegal constructions from the standing counsels of all municipal corporations falling in the jurisdiction of the Madurai Bench.
The bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar gave the direction on a batch of two petitions filed in 2016, seeking action against certain unauthorised constructions in Tirunelveli and Karur districts. While hearing the cases, the judges noted that despite several directions from the court, the authorities concerned are sleeping on the matter since no proper action has been taken.
Taking a serious view of the same, the judges said, "It is an appropriate time to pass necessary orders for constituting a high level committee to monitor these unauthorised constructions being carried out in the jurisdiction of the commissioner of corporations and municipalities, and to take necessary action for their removal."
Further noting that such unauthorised constructions are not official without the knowledge of the zonal officer or the officer concerned in the municipality, the judges opined that the matter requires a detailed discussion. They called for reports from the respective corporation standing counsels and adjourned the cases to February 1, with further instructions to the Registry to list all pending unauthorised construction cases before the bench on the said date at 2.15 pm.