Appear before HC if do not comply with order: HC to official

: The Madras High Court has directed a senior official of the State Housing and Urban Development Department to appear before it if he fails to comply with its order in connection with an unauthorised construction here.
The court had on Thursday passed the interim order on a contempt petition filed by an Advocate T Saravanan, regarding an unauthorized construction in T Nagar area here and posted the matter to October 24.
The petition seeks to punish the Principal Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Department, Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, for not disposing of the application of the building owner seeking regularisation, by July 23 last, as per the earlier order of the Court.

The court said if the June 23 2016 order requiring the appeal by the building owner to be disposed of within a month from the date of the order was not complied with, the official should personally appear in court on October 24.
The petitioner had submitted that there were gross violations in construction of the building. The building owner had converted the permission granted for dwelling houses into a lodging house without approval from authorities and gone ahead with the construction after expiry of the date of original planning permission.
He said he made a representation to the authorities concerned, seeking action, but to no avail.

Earlier, when the PIL came up, the court was informed that an application was filed by the owner, which would be disposed of within a month from the date of receipt.
Despite a lapse of two and half months, the appeal has not been disposed of by the official, which prompted the petitioner to file a contempt petition, he said.