CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has stayed the construction of the Vallalar International Convention Centre on peruveli land belonging to Sathya Gnana Sabhai, at Parvathipuram in Vadalur in Cuddalore, until further orders, while allowing construction for establishing various amenities at another site.
Citing procedural lapses in granting the necessary clearances, including change of land use, by the respective government departments and agencies regarding the construction of the international centre, a special bench of justices R Suresh Kumar and S Sounthar passed the interim orders on Thursday on the batch of petitions challenging the construction.
“That the HR&CE department and the Vallalar temple, i.e., its executive officer and the trustees shall not proceed to make any construction at site-A (Peruveli) as proposed by them...,” the bench said in the order.
It noted that the assistant director of Town and Country Planning conveyed his technical concurrence on June 18, the collector issued NOC on June 12, and the joint director of agriculture issued NOC on June 10; prior to all these proceedings, the director of town and country planning had conveyed his technical concurrence on June 6 itself.
“Therefore, such a technical concurrence given by the director is not in consonance with the rules; the contention of the counsel for the petitioner on Rule 5 of the TN Change of Land Use Rules, 2017, of course, prima facie is to be accepted,” the bench said.
Regarding the construction of amenities for devotees like old age home and siddha clinic at site-B, which is about a km away from the Vallalar temple, the bench noted that the clearances were issued properly.
Holding that the clearances issued by the departments and agencies for the construction at site-B, it allowed the HR&CE to proceed with the construction.
‘If govt intended to regularise staff, they are considered regular staff’
Madurai: The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC recently observed that if the government places an individual under the special time scale of pay with the intention to make them a regular employee, then the said employee will be entitled to the benefits made available to regular employees. A division bench of justices R Subramanian and L Victoria Gowri made the observation on an appeal filed by V Balamurugan, son of one such employee P Veeraiyan. Perusing a G.O. passed in 2013, the judges noted that persons working as sweepers in the panchayats were placed under a special time scale of pay, with the intention of regularising their services. “If that is the government’s intention, then sweepers granted special time scale of pay should be considered as regular employees for all practical purposes,” the bench said.