MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently directed the Virudhunagar district collector, Rajapalayam municipality commissioner and national highways authorities to inspect and submit a report on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in 2016, seeking the removal of encroachments on a portion of the Madurai-Kollam national highway (NH-208) that passes through Rajapalayam town.
The litigant, NS Ramaraj, stated in his petition that the said stretch of NH-208, from Janakiram Mill Bridge to Rajapalayam Parasakthi Sahayam bus depot, contains several encroachments that cause heavy traffic congestion. Claiming that an electric pole fell on the road and endangered the lives of commuters, he also sought direction to shift the electricity poles, transformers and electric lines towards the margin of the highway.
Hearing the petition, a bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar noted that an assistant divisional engineer from the National Highways department has filed a counter-affidavit stating that a necessary request has been made to the Rajapalayam municipality commissioner to conduct a survey to identify and remove the encroachments.
Recording this, the judges suo motu impleaded the Virudhunagar collector, Rajapalayam municipality commissioner and NHAI project director, and directed them to inspect the above stretch and file a status report in two weeks.