Chennai: The Madras High court yesterday directed the Tamilnadu government to immediately shut down 110 TASMAc shops that were being run inside unauthorised buildings.
The order was issued by a bench comprising Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasada based on a PIL filed by Nallaswamy seeking to close a TASMAC shop opened in an agricultural land in Erode district.
The court observed that the law was applicable to individuals as well as government establishments and directed the authorities concerned to produce planning permission of 2,728 such shops located in village panchayats.
The judges noted that when an individual has to follow the provisions of the Tamilnadu Town and Country Planning Act, it cannot be breached or diluted by the company. The advocate general made a submission that TASMAC would collect the planning permission from the land owners of the building within three weeks’ time in this regard. To this, the bench said it was not inclined to accept the request. Authorities could have very well ascertained from the Town and Country Planning authorities/local bodies, where the buildings are located and not necessarily from the building owners.