Chennai: Madras high court has stayed the operation of a government order dated June 14 last of the housing and urban development department directing that all buildings of the educational institutions constructed prior to January 1, 2011, in a non-plan area must apply for concurrence to the town and country planning (DTCP) department.
While passing an interim order on a writ petition from All India Private Educational Institutions Association, by its state general secretary K Palaniyappan of Saligramam, Justice S. S. Sundar has granted the injunction on Friday. According to petitioner, most of the educational institutions functioning in non-plan area, had applied to the local body for planning permission and got them approved under the Tamil Nadu Village Panchayat Building Rule,1997. However, the government at a later stage started issuing lock & seal notices to all the member institutions of the petitioner association, by invoking sections 56 and 57 of the TN Town and Country Planning Act. Counsel for the petitioner E. Prem Anand the government wants to overturn the settled proposition of law declared by the high court. And the government by the present GO wants to implement Section 47A of Town Planning Act retrospectively as the said section came into existence only from January 1, 2011.He sought to declare the June 14 GO and the consequential order dated June 25 of the school education secretary as illegal and unconstitutional and inconsistent with the legislative domain conferred under Articles 243 (g), 243 (w), 243ZD read with Article 40 of the Constitution.
