In Coimbatore Corporation, close to 20.57 acres of land that belongs to the civic body has been encroached. This means that at least 3% of the entire land that was ear marked for green space and recreation has been taken over by private parties. This was revealed by RTI replies provided by the Town Planning wing of the Coimbatore Corporation.
The highest number of encroachments has been reported from the north zone which is close to 8.38 acres. Activists said that several cases were filed against the civic body when they tried to remove encroachments. "The civic body has been fighting over 60 cases in the district court against encroachments, 25 cases in the High court and three cases in the Supreme Court.
In many cases, the civic body failed to file counters and their advocates were absent for several hearings. "Since they did not do the needful, we employed private lawyers," said G P Godhanavalli. After a decade-long legal battle, she reclaimed 36 cents of reserve site that was encroached in Sree Devi Nagar in Ganapathy.
"The problem is that in many cases, the civic body gets a judgement from the high court in their favour. But since they fail to take action, the encroacher appeals before the lower court and gets an order in his favour," she said.
RTI activist S P Thiyagarajan spoke about a recent case in Alumu Nagar where the violators had the time to appeal before the lower court and get an interim order since the advocates had delayed.
"In many cases since the violators have political or corporate influence, the civic body hesitates to take action," he said. In some cases, the violators torture residential welfare associations by filing cases against them. "In Deivanaiga Nagar in Ganapathy, an individual has filed ten separate cases against the residents," he said.
As per the RTI replies he had received, Thiyagarajan said the Local Planning Authority had also approved more than 390 layouts in the last five years which covers an extent of 1194 acres.
"10% of the land is reserved for the corporation. This means 119 acres should have been handed over to the corporation as gift deed. But the civic body did not give me any details of the extent of these lands and the details of the gift deed despite filing several RTI applications," he said.
Senior officials in the civic body when contacted said that they have been periodically removing encroachments and have also filed cases against several violators. Town planning officials said that they have regained several acres in the last one year alone. "We are taking action. Removal of Valankulam encroachment was completed in 2015. We will remove all other encroachments as well in a similar manner," said a town planning officer.
The highest number of encroachments has been reported from the north zone which is close to 8.38 acres. Activists said that several cases were filed against the civic body when they tried to remove encroachments. "The civic body has been fighting over 60 cases in the district court against encroachments, 25 cases in the High court and three cases in the Supreme Court.
In many cases, the civic body failed to file counters and their advocates were absent for several hearings. "Since they did not do the needful, we employed private lawyers," said G P Godhanavalli. After a decade-long legal battle, she reclaimed 36 cents of reserve site that was encroached in Sree Devi Nagar in Ganapathy.
"The problem is that in many cases, the civic body gets a judgement from the high court in their favour. But since they fail to take action, the encroacher appeals before the lower court and gets an order in his favour," she said.
RTI activist S P Thiyagarajan spoke about a recent case in Alumu Nagar where the violators had the time to appeal before the lower court and get an interim order since the advocates had delayed.
"In many cases since the violators have political or corporate influence, the civic body hesitates to take action," he said. In some cases, the violators torture residential welfare associations by filing cases against them. "In Deivanaiga Nagar in Ganapathy, an individual has filed ten separate cases against the residents," he said.
As per the RTI replies he had received, Thiyagarajan said the Local Planning Authority had also approved more than 390 layouts in the last five years which covers an extent of 1194 acres.
"10% of the land is reserved for the corporation. This means 119 acres should have been handed over to the corporation as gift deed. But the civic body did not give me any details of the extent of these lands and the details of the gift deed despite filing several RTI applications," he said.
Senior officials in the civic body when contacted said that they have been periodically removing encroachments and have also filed cases against several violators. Town planning officials said that they have regained several acres in the last one year alone. "We are taking action. Removal of Valankulam encroachment was completed in 2015. We will remove all other encroachments as well in a similar manner," said a town planning officer.