Flats on Pallikaranai marsh: Madras HC to study ground truth report
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday said it would take a decision on the public interest litigation petition filed by an AIADMK advocate against construction of a residential complex allegedly on the Pallikaranai marshland after perusing the report of the ground truthing exercise, which is aimed at determining the boundaries of the marshland. Stating that the Supreme Court had directed undertaking ground truthing, the first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan said, We have asked for the report. If that report comes, we will decide what to be done on the matter. The bench said it has to balance both sides as it cannot set its eyes to one side, and so is awaiting the report. The petition filed by advocate J Bezhnev alleged that Brigade Enterprises Limited was given environmental clearance for constructing a high-rise residential building complex with four blocks in Perumbakkam village, on the Pallikaranai marshland, on January 20, 2025, by the state environment impact assessment authority. Within three days, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority issued permission for the construction. Advocate General P S Raman, representing the government, informed that 99.4% of the ground truthing exercise has been completed and the remaining work will take just a days time; the ground truthing work is being done by the Tamil Nadu Wetland Authority in conjunction with the authorities of the Union government. Once the work is completed, the report will be filed in the court, he said, adding that the next stage is to identify the zone of influence and decide what activity can be permitted in this area. Senior counsel P Wilson, appearing for the Tamil Nadu Wetland Authority, submitted that the ground truthing exercise has been completed and a report has been submitted in the Supreme Court. The identification of digital boundary and delineation of the wetland are yet to be conducted. The next date of hearing was posted to December 11.
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