Tamil Nadu submits revised plan for Kodaikanal municipality

MADURAI: The state government has submitted the revised masterplan for Kodaikanal municipality which has been notified before the Madurai bench of Madras high court .


When a batch of petitions regarding building violations in Kodaikanal municipality was taken up for hearing on Monday, the additional advocate general Arvindh Pandian submitted the revised masterplan for Kodaikanal municipality before the court.

The counsels, who appeared for the petitioners mentioned that as the state government has come up with the revised masterplan, it should consider the applications which are submitted after rectifying the violations in the buildings. They also sought the officials to unseal small eateries and shops which were sealed prior to the direction of the court which exempted sealing of these buildings.

The counsel, who appeared for Kodaikanal municipality stated that action has been taken on 237 buildings with violations and 150 more buildings with violations have been identified, and submitted a report in this regard. The counsel further sought for police protection for the Kodaikanal municipal commissioner as action is being taken against building violations.

Perusing the submissions, a division bench of justice N Kirubakaran and justice G R Swaminathan directed the superintendent of police, Dindigul district to grant round-the-clock police protection to Kodaikanal municipal commissioner and also to provide necessary strength of police personnel while taking action on buildings with violations. The judges also further directed the officials to unseal the small restaurants and shops which were sealed prior to the exemption granted by the court. The case was adjourned to a further date.

During the previous hearing, the bench granted exemption for taking action against residential buildings, educational institutions, hospitals, government buildings, small shops- bakeries, grocery shops, vegetable shops and small restaurants which were constructed with violations.