Deprecating the practice of people first constructing illegal and unauthorised buildings in the city and thereafter submitting a plan for regularisation, the HC on Friday warned the CMDA and Chennai corporation not to entertain such request for regularisation of buildings which were illegally and unauthorisedly constructed without any approved plan.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice A. Arumughaswamy, gave the warning while passing further interim orders on a PIL, seeking action against the management of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Senior Secondary School in K.K.
Nagar, where a nine-year-old boy drowned in the swimming pool during the swimming training session on August 16.
After it was informed that the swimming pool was not shown in the approved plan during construction, the bench said, having regard to the fact that the construction of swimming pool itself was illegal and unauthorised, inasmuch as no planning permission was obtained for its construction, any activity carried on or going on in the swimming pool was illegal too.and unauthorised.
Senior counsel P.S. Raman, appearing for the school, submitted that five years after the school building was constructed, a separate plan was submitted for approval of swimming pool, which was rejected, and the school had gone on appeal, which was pending.
“In view of the said submission, we direct that the swimming pool located inside the premises of the school shall remain closed.
In the event the submission is found incorrect, then we shall pass further orders directing to demolish the swimming pool, which was constructed without any approved plan,” the bench added.
The bench said since the investigation has not yet been completed, the case was adjourned by four weeks as requested by the government pleader.
After the investigation, taking into consideration the materials and the gravity of the offences, it was always open to the authorities to alter the sections or add more sections under the IPC in respect of the case in hand, if other offences were made out, the bench added.