4 officials suspended for illegal construction: Government

The State government has informed the Madras High Court that four officials have been suspended for not stopping the illegal construction of a multi-storied building in Neelankarai, a case where the court had earlier lambasted the machinery and asked why a CBI probe should not be launched in the matter.

The first bench, comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice A Arumugasamy had asked the government to file a detailed counter affidavit detailing the action taken against the officers concerned and a status report. The matter was then posted for after 4 weeks.

In the order, the bench recalled the order passed in the writ petition on July 9, when the counsel appearing for the Corporation of Chennai, was asked to file an affidavit on why its officials allowed the petitioner to construct such a huge palatial building and no action was taken to stop the construction. 

It said a counter affidavit filed by the executive engineer stated that the site was inspected on March 13 after the construction was completed, based on the letter from the CMDA on illegal constructions and it was found that the entire construction was unauthorised. Hence, the notices were issued for restoration of the land to its original state.

The bench had observed that the official had “conveniently” evaded answering the question posed in the order as to how the officials allowed the construction in the first place and why no action was initiated after the completion of the building. Hence, the government pleader was asked to seek instruction on why the matter should not be referred to the CBI for an inquiry.

When the matter came up before the bench again on August 21, no counter had been filed by the State.

However, a letter received from the principal secretary to government, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, was produced, where it was said that four officials have been put under suspension and charges have been framed against five others. The bench then asked the government pleader to file the counter affidavit detailing the action taken.