There are an estimated 1.5 lakh buildings with serious violations in these districts in the capital’s neighbourhood, said a senior official who is aware of the changing land use pattern there.

The issue of illegal buildings is complex, and neither DMK nor AIADMK have taken any stern action against violators. The lack of action in the past and the nexus between the engineers and builders have made the situation worse, the official said.

Because of this, there is no political will to demolish such structures as permitted by rules, he said, adding that such rampant violations of town planning rules and norms could be curbed only by acting tough on errant engineers who facilitated the illegal acts.

“Illegal buildings continue to be an issue with the State administrators, and the number of such structures has surged in the last four years. Now the Madras High Court has issued a direction to the Chennai Corporation and the State government to act tough against them,” said former Corporation councillor N Rukmangathan, who is a petitioner in the illegal buildings case that is now being heard by the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy.

In Zone V (Royapuram) that comprises congested areas like Sowcarpet, Park Town, Egmore and Parrys, there are more than 5,000 illegal buildings. But there has not been any action against such structures. What has made the situation worse is the role played by Corporation engineers. After serving stop-work notice, they collect bribe and allow the work to be completed. Now, there are tenants residing in these buildings, which is complicating the matters, Rukmangathan noted.

When asked why the authorities have failed to take action against errant engineers of the civic body and the utilities, all a senior State government official offered was that they would act as per the order of the Madras High Court.