The Madras High Court today quashed the order of the Kancheepuram Collector with regard to demolition of an adjacent block in the case pertaining to last year's building collapse at Moulivakkam here, in which 61 persons were killed and about 100 injured.
The 11-storey under-construction residential building collapsed on June 28, 2014.
"It is trite to say that the material relied upon against the builder ought to have been handed over to him to facilitate him to take his defense. This has not been done. On this infirmity alone, the impugned order dated November 24 2014 and the consequential order of December 2, 2014 of the District Collector had to be quashed," the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M.M. Sundresh, said.
They passed the order on a criminal revision petition filed by M Bala Gurusamy, Managing Director of Prime Sristi Housing Private Limited, the builder, who claimed he had not been given the records relating to the demolition notice.
Earlier when the case was heard, the court had examined reports of experts and observed if there was any deficiency on the part of officials and that submitted on the original plan approved by Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, "then certainly there are grave deficiencies on the part of authorities concerned."
The First Bench headed by the CJ was hearing PILs filed in this regard by DMK leader M K Stalin who charged officials with trying to protect the adjacent building which was as precarious as the collapsed one and has to be razed.
Advocate General Somayaji had said demolition notice had been issued to block 'A', which had been challenged in the High Court and that a case pertaining to it was scheduled to come up for hearing on December 11.
The bench had then asked the registry to post that case also before it to today.
When the case came up, the MD filed the CRP.
The bench, while quashing the demolition order, directed the Collector to furnish the complete material relied upon by him against the builder within 10 days.
It also directed the builder to file a reply to the notice within two weeks of the material being handed over to him.
It then directed the Collector to pass an order as expeditiously as possible as per law after getting the reply.
The bench also directed that the entire material relied upon by the Collector to issue the demolition notice also be handed over to the Association of Flat Purchasers within the above period, enabling them to make independent claims against the builder to whom they have paid money to purchase flats.
It then posted the matter to March 17.
