CHENNAI: While the Madras High Court came down heavily on the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) for its inaction against unauthorised buildings in T Nagar, about five months ago it had rapped the planning body for not complying with court order over removal of seal from a private building on Kader Nawaz Khan Road.The building was sealed by the CMDA citing violations of a few inches in headroom clearance at the entry to the parking lot. The owner of the building filed a writ petition with the high court and secured an interim order on April 29 directing the authorities to remove the seal. When the order was not followed, the owner filed a contempt petition after serving contempt notice to the planning body. It was after the court chided the CMDA and directed removal of the seal within 24 hours that the planning body finally fell in line, said Anand Venkatesh, the counsel representing the owner of the building. The contempt petition is coming up for hearing on November 4 when the CMDA, led by its Member Secretary, Dayanand Kataria, has been asked to explain why they failed to comply earlier, he added.Several such contempt notices against the CMDA have been pending at the court, lawyers at the high court told Express. While in the case of T Nagar, the complaint against CMDA was of inaction, in many other cases, the allegations were of excesses. The court seems to have taken a strong stand against the CMDA, having sought explanation from each of the 31 officials who were named as being responsible for the failure to enforce the planning laws, thereby paving the way for unauthorised constructions.Among those named are four IAS officials who were member secretaries, three chief planners, two senior planners, nine deputy planners and 13 assistant planners.Among the IAS officials named in the list, Dayanand Kataria took charge as member secretary on April 1, 2010, and is continuing in the same post. His predecessor Vikram Kapur, currently the COO of Everonn India Foundation, was the member secretary between July 23, 2008 and March 31, 2010. Before him, M R Mohan occupied the post between February 21, 2008 and July 23, 2008. He is now the Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation.Besides, Mohammed Nasimuddin, who was member secretary from August 1, 2006 to February 20, 2008 is now the chairman and managing director of Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation.Among the three chief planners named in the list, N Subash Chandira and S Gurusamy retired from service without any charges against them, according to CMDA sources. However, the third chief planner, R Sivasubramanian, had disciplinary proceedings initiated against him, which were later dropped after the charges could not be proved, the sources added.
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