TOI reported that cracking the whip on civic authorities for the delay in shifting of the iron and steel market from the residential areas of George Town to Sathangadu, the Madras high court on last Friday directed the agencies involved to complete the project by June 15th or face contempt of court proceedings.
Mr PK Misra a division bench comprising Justice and Justice Mr Hariparanthaman said the market gave sleepless nights to residents of George Town area and that the court had to take an activist approach to issue several directions which it would not do in normal conditions.
The bench was passing orders on public interest writ petitions filed by Mr KR Ramaswamy and Mr C Vadivelu seeking to implement the February 23rd 1999 order of the Housing and Urban Development Department to shift the market to Sathangadu.
When the matter was taken up for disposal, the additional law secretary, who was present in the court, wanted six more months to issue final notifications pertaining to infrastructural facilities such as roads, electrical works, administrative and amenity buildings, auto workshops, lorry parking, telephone exchange, police station, petrol bunk, water supply, storm water drains, sewerage connections, public convenience and weigh bridge. The petitioners, however, opposed the plea, stating that no further extension of deadline need to be granted to complete these technicalities.
Rejecting the officials' plea for extension of deadline, the bench observed that "This court was pained to note that the order dated July 18th 2008 was observed more in breach as the process of shifting the wholesale trade in iron and steel to Sathangadu was to be completed at least before March 31st 2009. It was not complied with. However, the matter was adjourned giving a last chance to officials to furnish a status report relating to further action"
The judges said that the case clearly indicated the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities in implementing the 1999 GO, adding that unfortunately, things moved at a snail's pace forcing this court to issue several directions from time to time for the personal appearance of officials concerned for filing of the status report.
(Sourced from TOI)
