Chennai: The Madras High Court on Thursday warned revenue authorities of Kancheepuram that it would not hesitate to order use of military force to remove an encroachment if its previous order is not complied with by Friday.
"It is to be noted that in one instance recently, relating to an encroachment, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh has directed the military force to remove the encroachment.
"This court may have to apply the principles laid down thereunder for the present case on hand, taking note of the situation, wherein the petitioner's husband was assaulted in an inhuman fashion," a division bench comprising justices M Venugopal and S Vaidyanathan said.
The bench made the observation on a contempt plea by Jansi Rani, a resident of 'Tsunami' Kudiyiruppu at Muttukadu.
The court had allowed a plea by the petitioner on January 18 last year and directed the block development officer to take steps to remove the encroachment made by an individual on public property near the petitioners house within four weeks.
However, even after the expiry of 11 months, the official failed to comply with the order and remove the encroachment, prompting the petitioner to move a contempt plea on December 10, 2018.
When the contempt plea came up for hearing recently, the court granted time to the authorities till January 2 to comply with the order.
However, when the plea came up for hearing on Thursday, the petitioner informed the court that the order was yet to be complied with.
She also alleged that her husband was assaulted by the encroachers and he has been hospitalised with serious injuries at the Royapettah Government Hospital.
Taking serious note of the submission, the bench said, "If the order dated January 18, 2018 passed by this court is not complied with by Friday, then this court will initiate contempt proceedings by issuance of statutory notice to all the respondents, including the secretary of the revenue department.
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