HC judge to inspect archaeological site at Pallavaram

Justice N. Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court has decided to go on a personal inspection of a 57-acre archaeological site that had got diminished due to construction of residential and commercial buildings at Pallavaram. He said on Friday that he intended to carry out the inspection on April 21.

Passing an interim order on a writ petition related to removal of the encroachments, the judge directed the officials of the Archaeological Survey of India; Deputy Commissioner of Police, St. Thomas Mount; Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram and Tambaram Revenue Divisional Officer to be present on the day of inspection.

The Commissioner of Pallavaram Municipaltiy was also ordered to remain present at the site at 11 a.m. along with all revenue records related to the property. The police department have been ordered to deploy sufficient policemen at the time of inspection in order to maintain law and order.

Surveys resisted

The issue has a chequered history since the residents had refused to vacate their properties and prevented the ASI officials from surveying the locality. In September last year, the judge had ordered for a joint survey by the archaeological as well as revenue authorities over three days with heavy police security.

Then, the Inspector General of Police (North Zone) as well as Kancheepuram Deputy Inspector General of Police were ordered to be present at the site during the survey along with sufficient police force since three attempts, made every year since 2015, to survey the lands had failed due to public agitations.

The judge had also requested the locals to cooperate with the conduct of the survey and asked them not to be scared of any kind of drastic action. He also stated that neither they would be asked to vacate nor their buildings would be demolished due to the court’s order to simply survey the area and earmark the protected archaeological site.