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ow that the Supreme Court has directed the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) not to seal any buildings in T. Nagar or demolish the sealed buildings without hearing their contentions, CMDA officials are in a fix.
However, they will be deciding their course of action in the crucial authority meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Similarly, after the apex court’s decision, the monitoring committee will be meeting for the first time on Friday.

After the officials sealed 25 shops in T. Nagar following the expiry of showcause notices sent by the corporation and CMDA, around 120 shops on those premises had to pull down their shutters, rendering hundreds of employees jobless.

While CMDA and corporation authorities were planning to demolish the deviated portions, the aggrieved shop-owners approached the Supreme Court, which restrained the officials from proceeding further till the hearing comes up in the Madras high court on November 30.

With the maturity period of the show-cause notices of a few other buildings ending on November 17, the CMDA officials are now in a dilemma whether to act on such buildings in the other areas.

Accepting that they cannot act on illegal buildings for now, sources in the CMDA said, “We will not be discussing much about the T. Nagar episode. However, the officials who had been implicated and directed to file an affidavit by the court for inaction against the illegal buildings will be talking about how they can defend themselves in court.“
At this crucial juncture, the monitoring committee is being convened on November 18. “Though we cannot act upon illegal structures in T. Nagar, there are no barriers for taking action against such buildings in other parts of the CMA.

We will discuss about such buildings besides preparing a report to be submitted in the high court,“ a committee member told DC on Sunday.

- dc chn