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Consumer Action Group (Appellant) v. State of Tamil Nadu, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (Respondents)

País/Territorio
India
Tipo de la corte
Nacional - corte superior
Fecha
Ago 23, 2006
Fuente
UNEP, InforMEA
Nombre del tribunal
The High Court of Judicature at Madras
Juez
Shah, A., P.
Chandru, K.
Número de referencia
W.P.Nos.18898 of 2000, 19998 of 2001 and 24316 of 2002, No.17646 of 2006
Idioma
Inglés
Materia
Tierra y suelos, Medio ambiente gen.
Palabra clave
Ordenación comunitaria Manejo de tierras Monitoreo Autorización/permiso Terrenos públicos Procedimientos judiciales/procedimientos administrativos Comisión de tierras
Resumen
This petition was filed by the Consumer Action Group challenging the constitutional validity of the amended provisions of Section 113-A of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 (“the Act”). Section 113-A provided for regularization of illegal constructions on payment of a fee. It stated that notwithstanding anything contained in the Act the Government was empowered to exempt any building from any of the provisions of the Act by collecting regularization fee at such rate not exceeding Rs.2,000/- per square meter. Section 113-A was further amended, whereby all buildings constructed on or before 31st August 2000 were made eligible to be considered for such regularization. Thereafter, the cut-off date for regularization was extended two more times to 31st March 2002 by further amendment acts. The validity of these amending Acts was challenged as they being ultra vires Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority stated that there were five thousand structures that violated the provisions of the Act. Demolition of such a large number of cases was neither feasible nor desirable as it would result in undue hardship to the occupants. Therefore the State Government had taken a policy to exempt the buildings developed immediately before the date of commencement of the proposed legislation by collecting regularization fee. The court was of the view the illegal constructions had posed a serious threat to ecology and environment and affected water supply, sewerage and traffic movement facilities in the city. It was not open to the Government to keep on amending schemes frequently extending the cut-off date thereby virtually making a complete mockery of the provisions of the Act. Only such deviations deserved to be condoned as were bona fide and they applied only to genuine hardship. The impugned amendments to the section were thus in gross violation of Articles 21 & 14 of the Constitution of India, inasmuch as they arbitrarily affected the constitutional guarantee of ensuring a decent and planned environment. The court also set up a Monitoring Committee which would ensure the demolishing of illegal buildings, identify the officers at the Development Authority who were responsible for the failure to enforce the planning laws and make appropriate recommendation for prosecution.
Texto completo
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