Unable to find a way to auction the shops it had built in a yard west of T.K. Market, the Coimbatore Corporation has written to the Commissioner of Municipal Administration (CMA) for a solution.
Sources said the Corporation was forced to write to the CMA as two groups of traders were making claim to the 80-plus shops the civic body had built at the yard. One group of traders wanted preferential treatment in allotment of the shops and the other was for open auction.
The issue started sometime in June 2020 after the Corporation, during the COVID-19 lockdown, demolished 88 makeshift shops on Then Vadal Street, east of the T.K. Market. This was after a court order directing the civic body to remove the shops to free the street of encroachments.
A few months after removing the makeshift shops, the Corporation built a yard with over 80 shops on the western side of the Market. The idea was to accommodate the evicted traders who had claimed loss of livelihood.
Even as the Corporation was getting ready to auction the shops, the evicted traders urged the Corporation to give them preference over others in allotting the shops. Ignoring claims, the Corporation threw open the yard for open auction, allowing anyone interested to participate.
Opposing this the traders moved the Madras High Court, which only asked the Corporation to consider the traders’ petition. Meanwhile, another set of traders approached the Corporation insisting that it should go in for only open auction and not accord preferential treatment to any trader.
The sources said the Corporation was also in favour of open auction as it would help achieve as much income as possible. As the Corporation kept mulling options, traders under the Kaikani Siruvyaparigal Kootamaippu-Thiyagi Kumaran Market banner threatened to occupy the shops in December 2021 but gave up after negotiation with the civic body officials.
As the claim and counter claim by two groups of traders continued, the Corporation had decided to seek the CMA’s advice, the sources explained.