As many as 89 shops that the Coimbatore Corporation had constructed west of T.K. Market by demolishing a bicycle stand is becoming contested place, more so after the Corporation cancelled the auction to allot shops.
The Corporation Commissioner had in the last week of July cancelled the auction to allot the 89 shops after the Madras High Court ordered an interim stay for four weeks on the confirmation of allotment of shops.
On a writ petition moved by a section of vegetable traders the Court also observed, “The request of the petitioners to consider them by giving preference in allotting the shops shall also be considered earlier by the authority concerned and submit a report before this court.”
In the order, the Court had also recorded the Corporation’s submission that the civic body had given no assurance in writing to the traders concerned that it would give preferential treatment of shops and that it had issued the auction notification only to earn more revenue to the Corporation.
Sources familiar with the issue said the traders who had sought preferential treatment were those whose shops the Corporation had removed in an encroachment eviction on Then Vadal Street in June 2020 and that too after a court order.
The Corporation had removed more than 85 makeshift structures from the Street that was under encroachment for over 35 years.
The Market sources said the Corporation had not removed encroachments for 35 years because there was vested interest in letting the encroachments continue. A few persons were collecting rent on a daily basis from the vegetable traders in the last few years they had earned ₹ 2 crore to ₹ 3 crore.
It was those persons who had suffered loss because of the eviction were now trying to scuttle the auction process, the sources said and argued that giving preferential treatment to the encroachers would send a wrong precedent.
It would convey the message that encroachers after eviction could claim preferential treatment to be compensated for the illegal occupation and legal eviction, the sources further said.
The vegetable traders evicted from the Then Vadal Street should participate in the open auction just as any other trader and compete with others, the sources demanded and added that if the Corporation were to accord preferential treatment, they would staunchly protest such a move.
For, only an open auction would ensure that the Corporation earned more money, they added.
Corporation officials could not be reached for their comments.