Get views from public before bifurcating Tirunelveli dist: Madras HC

MADURAI: The state government has been directed to elicit views from the public before forming Tenkasi district. S Ponnudurai alias S P Raja Durai, a resident of Tirunelveli district filed a public interest litigation (PIL) before the Madras high court seeking a direction to forbear the state from issuing a notification before redressing the grievances of people from Alangulam and Sankarankoil assembly constituencies in Tirunelveli district.

He said that following the announcement made by the chief minister to form Tenkasi district by bifurcating Tirunelveli on July 18, a three-member committee headed by additional chief secretary/ revenue administrative commissioner was formed.

The committee announced that bifurcation would be done only after getting the views of the general public and a public hearing was scheduled on August 9 and 10. However, it was cancelled without any intimation.

He said that a fresh date was announced to conduct a public hearing on August 19.

But, due to the lack of proper publicity, only representatives of political parties attended the meeting.

A proper public hearing should be conducted for the people of Alangulam and Sankarankoil before the committee submits it report to the government. He stated that even though he submitted representation to the officials no steps were taken so far.

When the petition was heard on Tuesday, a division bench of justice T S Sivagnanam and justice R Tharani disposed of the petition after directing that the views of the public should be heard.