Traffic Ramaswamy files PIL against use of new Tamil Nadu Assembly complex

Social activist ‘Traffic’ Ramasamy has filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Madras High Court saying that the new Assembly complex under construction and waiting to be inaugurated on March 13, should not be used without getting a completion certificate as per law.

The petition is expected to come up before the first bench comprising Chief Justice H L Gokhale and Justice V Dhanapalan today.

The upcoming complex at the Omandurar Estate cannot claim exemption under any law and that without obtaining the completion certificate it should not be occupied.

If any such certificate has already been issued, the authorities concerned must be asked to furnish the full details of the certificate, along with other documents including any notice to shift the budget session from the Fort St George to the new complex Ramaswamy contended.

Ramasamy claims that before occupying the new building, statutory clearance under the provisions of the Multistoreyed Buildings Act 1984, should be obtained. He said the life and limbs of citizens, staff members, MLAs and ministers would be at risk if mandatory requirements are not complied with.

The petitioner also said that it will not be fair to encourage the government to occupy the unfinished assembly complex without following the guidelines as per the Town and Country Planning Act 1979 and the Master Plan 2 of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA). He referred to an accident at the construction site recently in which about 12 construction workers were injured.

He also said that no traffic impact study in and around the complex has been conducted, and the hasty manner of inauguration of the complex would impede vehicular flow on the road.

While about 3,000 hawkers are awaiting alternative accommodation in multi-storied hawking zones in the city, the government need not have spent about Rs 500 crore on the Assembly project, Ramasamy said.

- Asian Tribune -