Housing & urban devlpmt secy told to appear in court on Feb 4

Madras High Court has directed the Housing and Urban Development secretary to be present before it on February 4 to explain de-sealing of an unauthorised construction in the temple town of Kumbakonam, which is set to host the 'Mahamaham' festival on February 26.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayana, directed Dharmendra Prathap Yadav to appear before it after taking a serious view of him permitting de-sealing of a building on January 4 even as the affidavit by the department concerned on January 8 made no mention of it.
The bench did so after perusing affidavits by various departments and photographs and an affidavit filed on various aspects, including unauthorized constructions.

"Till the occupancy certificate was issued and if there are deviations, the building cannot be occupied in any part till all deviations are remedied," the bench said.
Petitioner 'Elephant' Rajendran, an advocate had sought appointment of a committee headed by a retired judge to oversee expenditure made in connection with allotment of Rs 290 crore fund for the festival.
Rajendran had alleged that there was rampant unauthorized constructions of buildings in the temple city, which was going on unchecked by officials and had prayed for the Court to appoint monitoring committee.

The government also submitted that some non-officials were appointed in the committee.

The bench, which on December 10 said that government's admission that many of 44 tanks in Kumbakonam were either full of silt or encroached needs to be addressed immediately, went through details filed by authorities and said all steps would be made to clear as many tanks as possible by the deadline, but action must continue even after that till all tanks are cleared and preserved for the future.
The bench perused an additional government affidavit on action to be taken against offending officers on unauthorised constructions and said it wants a better affidavit to be filed in three weeks, specifying the officers identified, for what period, whether they had responded to the notice issued and what manner of departmental enquiry was there.

It then posted the matter to February 4.
On December 10, the bench had come down heavily on officials for allowing rampant unauthorised construction and encroachments in water bodies in Kumbakonam said they would have to face criminal prosecution.
It had directed appointment of priests and devotees as members of committees formed for the conduct of the festival held once every 12 years and expected to draw 35 lakh pilgrims to the town.