Muttukadu violators move Madras HC to stall demolition, get temporary relief

CHENNAI: In a last-ditch effort, owners of luxury bungalows in Olive Beach layout at Muttukadu have moved the Madras High Court to stall the demolition process initiated for violating Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.

A clarification note was filed last Friday, a day before the demolition was due. The owners claimed that because of sea erosion their property is currently at a kissing distance from the sea. The divisional bench comprising justices MM Sundresh and Krishnan Ramasamy, who last month dismissed writ petitions filed by bungalow owners and ordered demolition, heard their plea and reserved the order.

Officials of Mamallapuram Local Planning Authority, Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority and Chengalpet District Administration, who were coordinating the demolition proceedings, have been asked by the court to wait till the final order is passed. Demolition notices were issued to five bungalows bearing plot numbers 18A, 32, 11, 10 and 4 falling in Survey number 114 of Muttukadu village on East Coast Road.

When the matter was being heard, Additional Government Pleader E Manoharan argued that when there was sea erosion or not, Olive Beach layout in Muttukadu falling within 200 metres from High Tide Line, which is classified as No Development Zone.

"The owners again tried to emphasize that they had all the local planning permissions and the sea had come-in by about 150 metres. Even if this argument is taken on face value, the property still falls in CRZ-3 and is a no-development zone where such bungalows can't be built," Manoharan told The New Indian Express.

As per CRZ Notification, 2011 area up to 200 metres from HTL on the landward side in case of the seafront is to be earmarked as "No Development Zone" and no construction shall be permitted except for repairs and reconstruction of existing authorised structures like dwelling units of traditional coastal communities.