High Court clears legal hurdle for Oyamari bridge.

The Madras High Court Bench recently vacated its January 5, 2012 interim order that had held up completion of the construction of Oyamari bridge connecting Chathiram bus stand in Tiruchi with the Chennai bypass.

Justice R. Subbiah vacated the interim order after Additional Advocate General K. Chellapandian submitted that just 20 metres of the 870-metre-long bridge could not be constructed for the last three years because of the court order and it had led to escalation of costs.

The judge dismissed a writ petition filed by an individual who had disputed the ownership of a small piece of a land required by the State Highways Department for the bridge and directed him to resolve the issue by approaching the jurisdictional civil court.

“Considering the submissions made by all the parties, it is seen that the government has completed the project except for a small stretch of the land due to the interim order granted by this court.

Therefore, the respondents are not in a position to complete the project.

'It is seen that there is a strong dispute as regards the title of the land in question between the petitioner as well as Arulmigu Thayumanasamy Devasthanam Temple. Time and again, this court as well as the Supreme Court has held that as regards the title in dispute, the writ court has no jurisdiction.

'The only course available to the petitioner as well as the temple is to approach the competent civil court and establish their title and get compensation accordingly. Further, this court cannot conduct any roving enquiry as to who is the owner of the property in question,' the judge said.

He recorded the statement of the State government that it was ready to deposit before the civil court the compensation amount for the land in dispute and that amount could be withdrawn either by the petitioner or the temple management as per final orders of the civil court.


THE HINDU