HC laments civic conditions in Chennai, cites garbage mounds near CM's residence

The Madras High Court took a dig at the civic conditions in the city on Friday, observing that mounds of garbage could be spotted beside the residence of the Tamil Nadu chief minister itself and wondering what would be the situation in other areas.

Justice N Seshasayee, who was part of a division bench that was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking measures to check the incidence of dengue fever, noted that garbage was not cleared periodically in the city.

Going through the RA Puram area, garbage heaps resembling a mountain could be spotted beside the chief minister's residence, which indicated that the locality was not cleaned up, the judge said in his oral observations.

If the condition of an area, where the chief minister's house was located, was like this, "we can imagine the state of other places", he said.

The observations were made by the judge while hearing the PIL filed by a lawyer, AP Suryaprakasam, seeking measures to control dengue.

The plea also highlighted the strike by government doctors when cases of fever were being reported.

When the plea came up for hearing before the division bench also comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan, Advocate General Vijay Narayan submitted that the government doctors had unconditionally withdrawn their agitation on Friday.

Justice Seshasayee observed that doctors were regarded as next to god, wondering how could they refuse to give treatment to the poor.

The bench then directed the authorities to file a status report on the precautionary steps taken to prevent dengue and posted the matter after two weeks.

The strike by government doctors, which began on October 25, ended on Friday after the government promised that their demands would be considered.