HC treats letter on encroachment in Adyar River as PIL

The Madras High Court today sought a report from Kancheepuram District Collector on encroachments in Adyar River in a residential locality in the city outskirts which allegedly caused floods.
The court was treating as a PIL a letter addressed to its Chief Justice by residents of Varadharajapuram on flooding of their area during rainy season due to alleged encroachments in the river passing through their locality.
First bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar directed the Kancheepuram Collector to file a report with regard to the number of encroachments and the steps taken for their removal.
It noted that though the notice for eviction had been issued, no action had been taken for removal of encroachments to prevent flooding of the area.

The court directed Government Pleader in-charge T N Rajagopalan to obtain instructions from the authorities.
It posted the matter to November 20 as also nine other pending petitions related to encroachments.
In their letter, the residents of Varadharajapuram submitted that there were encroachments in the Adayar River which is passing through their area and no action had been initiated by the authorities for their removal. Because of the this, the area was flooded during rainy season, they said.