Madras High court bench blames authorities for flash floods

“Almost all the water bodies and water courses were allowed to be encroached upon resulting in reduction in their flood storing and carrying capacity, forcing the water to deviate from its regular course and enter residential areas causing devastating effects,” it said.

“The authorities have permitted construction of houses in the water bodies. This resulted in inundation of these areas during floods and all these houses submerged under the flood water. This shows that despite court orders, the authorities pretend to act swiftly in removing encroachments but only in a selective manner and not in a planned and determined manner,” was the bench’s stinging observation.

Authorities cannot destroy water bodies or water courses formed naturally for the benefit of mankind forever and it is beyond the power of the state to alienate or re-classify the water bodies for some other purpose without compensating the effect of such water bodies, the court observed while dismissing a petition by a CPI (M) leader, T.K. Shanmugam, who sought pattas for a group of people, who resided along Kolathur lake for over two decades.

Since time immemorial people across the world had made efforts to preserve and protect natural resources like air, water, plants, flora and fauna. Lakes and water bodies were gifts of nature. There was no possibility of getting further gifts of such nature. “We should be content with the resources already given by the nature,” the court said.

“Therefore, we should protect these valuable resources so as to enable the future generation to maintain it for years to come for common good of all.”

Environment plays a pivotal role in the life of human beings and, therefore, it is necessary to have a study with regard to impact on ecology because of the massive projects of development involving utilisation of natural wealth like wet lands, water bodies and lakes.

Dismissing the petition, the bench said the petitioner’s claim that the encroachments in ‘river poromboke’ have to be regularised, was legally not sustainable.