: The Madras High Court today directed the Commissioner of Police to assist the Cantonment Board in retrieving an encroached piece of land meant for the construction of a ration shop in Saint Thomas Mount area.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh stated this while passing orders on a PIL filed by one N Irudayaraj.
The bench noted that the Chief Executive Officer of the cantonment board has been reportedly communicating to police to provide protection to remove the encroachment and build a ration shop on the lands belonging to the government.There was apparently no response from them.
"We thus direct the commissioner of police to render assistance to cantonment board as and when sought, with advance notice of seven days."
Petitioner contended that the ration shop was meant to cater to the needs of more than 500 families in Seven wells street area in St Thomas Mount. As the shop had to be shifted, civil supplies authorities approached the Board to allot a suitable place to locate the shop.
It later identified a one-ground site in the vicinity and wrote to the Board to build a structure and let it out to the civil supplies department. In June 2013, however, one Bakya Regis of St Patrick Church erected a flagpole in the middle of the plot, and attached an idol too, the petitioner claimed.
Despite claims and representations from the Board stating that the land belonged to it, the encroacher did not remove the pole. In Nov 2013, authorities started digging work after the squatter removed the pole. A while later he again occupied the plot, the petitioner claimed.
He said he was forced to move court after unsuccessful attempts to vacate the encroacher, and sought a direction to the cantonment board to remove all encroachments by Regis and hand over the plot to civil supplies authorities for construction of the ration shop building.
