The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered notices be issued to respondents on a public interest litigation petition, which alleged that a public land in Mamallapuram was encroached by a private hotel.
In the PIL, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi’s Deputy District Secretary in Mamallapuram V. Kittu alleged that common land measuring 9.99 cents was illegally encroached upon by GRT Hotels and Resorts Private Limited, which had claimed that it had entered into a share purchase agreement with India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) Limited.
The hotel had constructed a building in the land by violating regulations and conditions imposed by local administration authorities and further obtained bogus patta for it, it alleged.
On the basis of the share purchase agreement, the company also availed a loan of Rs. 35 crore from HDFC Bank by executing simple mortgage deed over the building, it claimed.
The land encroached by the hotel included burial grounds of different communities and public roads, which was not covered in the share purchase agreement with ITDC Limited, he alleged.
After the petitioner sought authorities to take action against the company, threats were made to his life, for which a complaint was filed with the police.
While so, the authorities of Mamallapuram Town Panchayat have proposed to transfer the said land to the hotel for the patta and if it happened, it would cause harm, loss and hardship to the locals, he said and further sought for a direction to authorities to prevent authorities to issue property tax receipt to the hotel for the land.
He further sought for an interim direction to authorities to survey the encroached land and eventually directed concerned officials to conduct a thorough enquiry into the matter with a reasonable time and take legal action against the hotel.
When the case came up for hearing on Wednesday, the vacation Bench comprising Justices M. Duraiswamy and R. Mahadevan ordered issuing of notice to respondents returnable in two weeks.
