Warning the State that it would not hesitate to order demolition of the new Semmancheri police station if found constructed on a water body at Sholinganallur here, the Madras High Court on Thursday, besides restraining the State from putting the building to use, sought the IIT-Madras faculty and students to inspect the spot and submit a report.
Madras High Court (File Pic)
Chennai:
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy offered the direction on a PIL moved by Arappor Iyakkam that the land conversion from a water body to an institutional use in Thamaraikani Lake in Sholinganallur was made recently in 2019 though the preparatory work had commenced in 2012.
While the State contended that the said 61.49 hectares were not a water body and as per revenue records only a ‘Michael Thangal Road’ of which a mere 0.27 hectares has been reclassified, the bench pointed out that in the revenue records, there is a comma between Michael, Thangal and Road which indicated that it is possible that in monsoon the survey number would be a water body and upon the water receding a part of it would be opened as grazing land and on the water drying up in peak summer the rest of the land would be used as a public access road.
However, observing that a water body cannot ordinarily be converted into residential plots or reclassified for institutional use, the CJ said: “It is imperative that a newly constructed building is brought down, if only for the State to take it as a notice that further desecration of water bodies will not be condoned or tolerated on any ground whatsoever.”
Based on this, the bench on directing the State not to expend further money since the building may be directed to be brought down if constructed on the land part of the water body, sought IIT director to nominate two professors to undertake a study with the help of three to four students and ascertain as to whether in 2012 or prior any water body existed on any part of the land where the police station has now been carved out and suggest appropriate remedial measures.
The bench then posted the case to April 29, when IIT is directed to submit the names of the two professors.
More time for water bodies’ satellite mapping
The Madras High Court on finding that its order on mapping of the water bodies in the State through satellite mapping has only been partially completed directed the downloading of the remaining images within the next 10 days and match the same with revenue records by June.
On perusing the report submitted by the government in this regard, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy pointed out that the satellite mapping of the water bodies at taluk level and collated district wise was sought to be obtained and water bodies earmarked so that in future it cannot be contended that there was no water body when there was one.
But the exercise appears to have been partially completed with the failure attributed to the State assembly elections, the bench said.
However, expressing hope that the entire exercise is completed by April 30, 2021, the Chief Justice held that it is imperative that before the water bodies dry up in the peak summer satellite image should be downloaded while noting: “Thanks to the recent rains, the smaller water bodies that may have dried may have sprung back to life.”
Also directing the completion of the satellite mapping exercise by a week, the bench said: “At the end of the day, the larger exercise of correlating the images of the water bodies as evident from the satellite maps with the revenue records should be completed so that in future there can be no doubt in the existence of water bodies in the State.
“The downloading of images should be completed and the exercise of matching the same with the revenue records should commence at the end of June. The court may subsequently require experts from recognised institutions to look into the images as downloaded and the same being matched by the revenue records at a later stage,” the bench added while posting the plea for further hearing to April 29.
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