HC asks officials to stop eviction drive at Kumarasamy Colony

Coimbatore: The Madras high court on Tuesday issued an oral direction to the city corporation and the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board to temporarily stop the encroachment eviction drive along Muthanankulam tank at Kumarasamy Colony in the city. Subsequently, the government bodies have decided to stop the demolition drive for two days from Wednesday.
Members of Tamil Nadu Thiruvalluvar Makkal Kuttamaipu had earlier filed a writ petition urging the high court to direct the city corporation to provide alternative land with patta to the residents before evicting them from the colony. The petition had the district administration, corporation and slum clearance board as the respondents.
While hearing the petition, Justice R Mahadevan passed the oral direction to stop demolition works at the colony and adjourned the hearing to Thursday. A source privy to the development said the petitioners had submitted the details of land available in the surrounding areas of the colony that could be provided to the residents and sought an interim stay order on the eviction drive. The court has provided time for the respondents to file their responses till Thursday, the source said.
A slum clearance board official said, based on the court directions, they would stop the encroachment removal works at the colony till the next hearing. “Further steps would be taken based on the court direction.”
Close to 1,500 houses, which were illegally constructed along the waterbody at Kumarasamy colony, have been demolished by the city corporation since June 6. They have, however, demolished only vacant houses so far.
Meanwhile, Coimbatore MP PR Natarajan met city corporation commissioner J Sravan Kumar on Tuesday. During the meeting, a decision was taken to fix a date to hold talks with district collector K Rajamani and other concerned officials to find a solution to the issue. He also questioned the city corporation’s urgency in carrying out the eviction drive when the number of Covid-19 cases has been on the rise in the district.