Madras HC condemns practice of regularising unauthorised constructions as a routine

The Madras High Court has frowned upon the practice, followed by the State government and its arms such as the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and local bodies, of regularising unauthorised constructions in a routine manner. Subramaniam and K. Rajasekar said that such a lenient and casual approach towards regularisation of unauthorised structures emboldened the non law-abiding individuals to intentionally deviate from approved construction plans. The judges wondered how the authorities on the one hand insisted on obtaining building plan approval before commencing construction, and on the other hand continued to entertain applications for regularisation of unauthorised constructions “thereby, legalising an illegal act.” Authoring the verdict, Justice Subramaniam wrote: “Illegal constructions not only cause environmental damages but also pose a threat to the safety and security of neighbours. The government is not expected to be a mute spectator in respect of illegal constructions, which cause great inconvenience to people residing in a locality.” Observing that the enforcement authorities must take action against unauthorised constructions on receipt of complaint from any person, the Bench said, no misplaced sympathy could be shown by the courts in such cases merely because the building plan violators had invested huge amount of money.