High Court Slams Educational Trust For Encroaching On Road

Madurai: An educational trust in Tiruchirappalli district has come in for criticism from the Madras High Court for encroaching the State Highway roads for parking vehicles and filing a civil suit in the lower court, suppressing the High Court's eviction order.

Passing interim orders on a contempt of court application against Highways Department officials, a Division Bench of the Court's Madurai Bench, comprising Justice V Ramasubramanian and N Kirubakaran suo motu included M.Nachhammai,wife of Alagu Nachiyar Educational Trust chairman S Mani,who filed the civil suit,also as a respondent to the contempt proceedings.

The judges recalled that a PIL, filed last year, sought a direction to the Highways Department to remove the structures put up by the trust on the encroached property on K Sathanoor Main road and retrieve the land from the encroachers.

The court allowed the PIL on July 4 with a direction to remove the encroachments within four weeks.The order was not challenged before the appellate forum either by the educational trust or government officials concerned.

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The official respondents failed and neglected to take action for complying with the order passed by the court, "leading to the filing of this contempt of court petition.They woke up and took possession of the property only when this bench sought an explanation when the contempt application came up for hearing."

"What was more disturbing was that after court's order to vacate the encroachment, the educational institution had the audacity to file a civil suit, thus assaulting the court order in PIL petition."

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The judges called for the records in the suit from the Tiruchirappalli Additional District munsiff court, so that it could be struck off, and posted the case for further hearing on December 21.