Demolish Puzhal's unlicensed industrial units, Madras HC tells State

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the State government to take legal action and demolish unlicensed private industries that have come up on encroached government lands in Puzhal's residential areas, and are the root cause of noise and air pollution.

A division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice K Rajasekar directed the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), Tiruvallur district administration and the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) to work in coordination to identify the unlicenced industries operating illegally on encroached government lands and take action, including demolition, within six months.

The bench held that large-scale unauthorised constructions and industrial activities causing noise and air pollution in residential areas at Puzhal are evident as the authorities have submitted that, as far as they found, encroachments and unauthorised buildings extend to 2,000 acres.

Petitioner M Malliga from Ponneri, Tiruvallur, alleged that a huge number of small to medium industries operating in the residential areas in and around Puzhal without a licence are choking residents with noise and air pollution. Further, she stated that several such industries have encroached upon government lands.

The petitioner pointed out that such unlicensed industries are functioning in large numbers in Vilangadupakkam village panchayat and Sendrampakkam village panchayat within the Puzhal panchayat union.

She also alleged that representations were made before the authorities concerned to take action under the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act and Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019. However, no action was taken against the unlicensed units, she alleged, and requested the court to act against over 150 industries functioning illegally there.

Special government pleader Balathandayutham said several unapproved buildings have come up in Vilangadupakkam village of Ponneri taluk. He said a cluster of about 1,052 buildings has come up in the area, and upon inquiry, it was found only 10 have planning permission. The others are admittedly unauthorised constructions.

Upon perusing the photographs enclosed, the bench found that the constructions are not small, but huge sheds akin to industrial ones. Hence, the bench suo motu impleaded the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to identify the unlicensed industries.

Further, the bench directed the assistant director of panchayat, Tiruvallur and the deputy director of DTCP to hold an inspection to identify encroachers and survey the property.