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| India-Pakistan |
| 60,000 Madras buildings face demolition |
| 2006-11-26 |
| India's Supreme Court has ordered the demolition of tens of thousands of illegal buildings in Madras (Chennai) the capital of Tamil Nadu state. The court also declared illegal a Tamil Nadu law allowing buildings that breach regulations to stand if a fee is paid. A BBC correspondent in Madras says the city is notorious for violations of building by-laws - both by big builders and individual house owners. Judges said widespread breaches of these laws had made Madras unliveable. More than 60,000 structures are likely to be affected by the Supreme Court ruling. The BBC's L R Jagadheesan says that between 1990 and 2005, the state government regularised thousands of illegal buildings under the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act. The law then allowed regularisation of illegal construction if the owner paid a fee to the local government. The court has ordered the city administration to refund all fees collected for illegal buildings up to now, a sum estimated at about $ 72m. A similar Supreme Court ruling has led to the demolition of several illegally constructed buildings in Delhi. |
| Posted by:john |
| #1 Oh, darn. I thought it said Madrassas. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2006-11-26 21:14 |