Chennai: Madras high court on Monday dismissed, as withdrawn, a PIL seeking to stall the construction of a new secretariat in Foreshore Estate by the TVK govt. The court observed that even the construction of the new Parliament was challenged, and the Supreme Court refused to interfere saying that it was a policy decision of the govt.“It is for the govt to construct wherever it wants. Please tell us under what power the court can direct the govt to construct it in a particular place,” the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan said.You (petitioner) have approached the court with a two-page petition, but you didn’t even make an attempt to do research on the issue, the court said.Asserting that such a casual approach cannot be tolerated in filing PILs, the court warned that it would start imposing costs. The court then dismissed the PIL as withdrawn without granting any liberty for the petitioner to initiate a fresh PILAccording to the petitioner, R S Tamilvendan, a practicing lawyer, permitting the govt to proceed with the construction of a new secretariat in Pattinapakkam would put public and fishermen in irreparable loss and hardship.Tamilvendan submitted that he came to know through news reports on Aug 10 that the state govt was going to build a new secretariat at a cost of ₹1,200 crore at a place owned by the TNHB in the Pattinampakkam area.“I was shocked when I heard the news. If the new secretariat is built at the proposed location, the scheme of providing houses to the poor will be affected. Since the existing houses were dilapidated, those houses were to be demolished and the land allocated to the public for the construction of new houses,” he added.
