Towns and Cities

Contempt case against Chennai Corporation Commissioner closed

Thursday, 13 January 2011 05:23 administrator

The Hindu 13.01.2011

Contempt case against Chennai Corporation Commissioner closed

J. Venkatesan

Corporation had revoked permission to demolish property despite Supreme Court direction

The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed the contempt case against Chennai Corporation Commissioner D. Karthikeyan and discharged him from further proceedings.

A Bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra had on November 24, 2010 had issued the contempt notice taking a serious view of an order passed by the Corporation revoking the permission to demolish a property despite a Supreme Court direction to that effect.

On Wednesday, Mr. Karthikeyan was present in the court in response to the contempt notice.

The Bench in a brief order said, “The Commissioner and the alleged contemnor are present in the court. Altaf Ahmad, senior counsel appearing for the Commissioner, states that the order of demolition has been restored. The contemnor is represented through senior counsel E. Padmanabhan. The contemnor has tendered unconditional apology, which we accept. Since, the contemnor has vacated the premises in question, nothing survives in this contempt petition and it is disposed of. Contempt notice is discharged.”

While issuing contempt notice to the Commissioner, the Corporation, as well as to petitioner D.M. Belgamvala “to show cause why they should not be punished for contempt of court for trying to take this court for a ride and set at naught our order dated May 14, 2010,” the Bench “this is a typical case of a litigant trying to take this court for a ride.”

The Bench also took exception to order of interim stay of eviction of the tenant passed by the Madras High Court even after the dismissal of the Special Leave Petition (SLP).

In this case, the landlord, Tamil Nadu Real Estate (P) Ltd., had filed an eviction petition against Mr. Belgamvala, petitioner-tenant, which had been decreed by the courts below, including the High Court. The SLP against this order was dismissed by this court on May 14 and the petitioner (tenant) was granted six months time to vacate the premises. Despite this undertaking, the petitioner did not vacate. Instead, he filed an application on November 12 for a direction that he need not vacate the premises till final orders were passed in the Review Petition.

The Bench said, “In our opinion, this application is a sheer abuse of the process of the court. We are of the opinion that the Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai, is hand in glove with the petitioner and it is for this reason that he has passed this collusive and contemptuous order dated June 18 merely to get over our order dismissing the SLP on May 14, 2010.”

Dies in court

Even as Assistant Executive Engineer of the Corporation Anbuselvam was waiting in the court for the case along with the Commissioner Mr. Karthikeyan, he suffered a massive heart attack. He was rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where he died within few minutes.

Order of demolition has been restored

Contemnor's unconditional apology accepted

Unauthorised hawkers protest eviction move

Wednesday, 12 January 2011 08:11 administrator

The Hindu 12.01.2011

Unauthorised hawkers protest eviction move

Special Correspondent

They had returned after being evicted last year to facilitate modernisation of the old bus stand

Unauthorised hawkers selling fruits on the platforms of the old bus stand here staged a protest when authorities of the Vellore Corporation came with the police to evict them on Tuesday.

After the eviction of hawkers last year to facilitate the modernisation of the old bus stand, it was free from hawkers for nearly three months. However, they returned recently and started selling fruits on passenger bays and carried on business, causing hardships to passengers. Under these circumstances, the Corporation authorities, along with police officials, came to the bus stand on Tuesday morning to evict the hawkers.

The hawkers, supported by volunteers of the Vidudhalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), protested the eviction and prevented the police and Corporation staff from carrying out the operation. S. Seetharam, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Vellore, who was at the spot, tried to pacify the hawkers. When he asked them to remove their belongings and leave, with the assurance that he would arrange for a meeting between them and the Mayor and the Commissioner of the Corporation to solve the issue, the agitators wanted the Mayor to speak to them.

When Neela Chandrakumar, urban district secretary of the VCK, spoke to the Mayor over phone, the latter contacted Town Planning Officer Kannan and asked him to allow the hawkers to sell the existing stocks of fruits that they had.

K.R. Selvaraj, Corporation Commissioner, told The Hindu that the Corporation was, at present, engaged in carrying on renovation of the bus stand.

The renovation works included the laying of tiles on the floor and walls of the platforms, renovation of the existing toilets and urinals, construction of new urinals, installation of fixed steel chairs on the platforms and installation of a reverse osmosis plant and supply of purified drinking water to passengers.

Devakumar, Corporation engineer, said that the entire work was being carried out at a cost of Rs.40 lakh.

Mayor appeals for judicious use of water

Tuesday, 11 January 2011 05:21 administrator

The Hindu 11.01.2011

Mayor appeals for judicious use of water

Staff Reporter

Corporation Mayor R. Venkatachalam has appealed to the city's residents for judicious use of water.

He said there was only 49 feet water in the Siruvani Dam and with the available quantity the civic body would be able to supply water only for another 75 or 80 days.

“The situation is a cause for concern. Residents getting Siruvani water should use it only for cooking and drinking purposes,” he said. For other needs the residents could use the tap or ground water, which was being supplied adequately.

Mr. Venkatachalam said the civic body was supplying Siruvani water on alternate days in a few areas and once in six or eight days in others, depending on the supply.

He was hopeful that before the crisis got out of hand, the civic body could have the cushion of Pilloor water. Work was underway at a feverish pace, with April as the deadline, he said.

Pay tax

He also appealed to the residents to pay property and water tax well before deadline, as the money collected therefrom was used for funding various projects.

Regarding road improvement, he said the civic body was waiting for the completion of UGD works to begin work on seven of the 26 roads taken up for improvement. Of the remaining 19 roads, work was nearing completion in seven, he said.

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