In a significant order, the Madras High Court has directed Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to spell out the action being taken by it when building construction activities in residential areas breach the permitted noise levels and disturb the residents even during night hours.
A Division Bench of Justices R. Subramanian and R. Sakthivel also directed a private hospital management to ensure its contractor does not carry out construction activities for its new hospital at St. Mary’s Road in Alwarpet, Chennai between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. until further orders.
Passing interim orders on a writ petition filed by former Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan in his capacity as a resident of St. Mary’s Road, the Bench also directed the TNPCB to file a report on the ambient air quality and the noise level in the locality.
The court further ordered that the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) should also file a report on February 7 indicating the classification of St. Mary’s Road and disclosing whether construction of a hospital was permitted in the locality. It was directed to submit the sanctioned building plan too.
In his affidavit, Mr. Rajagopalan told the court the private healthcare conglomerate had undertaken the construction of a 10-storey hospital on St. Mary’s Road and the piling work for it had commenced in the first week of July 2023. The residents in the locality had to suffer because of the noise and vibration.
Hence, he sent a communication to the project manager on July 21, 2023 objecting to the noise levels and vibration. The project manager replied to it on July 24, 2023 with an assurance that the boring pile work would be completed in three months and noise level would be restricted during night hours.
However, when the assurances were not adhered to, the petitioner had to shoot multiple mails pointing out that the drilling work was being carried on up to 1 am. In response, he was told the pile work got delayed due to unexpected rains and that every effort was being taken to complete it at the earliest.
Subsequently, the petitioner sent multiple complaints to the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police, TNPCB as well as CMDA. Yet, no action was taken by these authorities, he complained and sought a direction to the State government to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against the officials concerned.
The petitioner also sought a direction to the government as well as other authorities to initiate action against the private hospital management for having seriously violated the pollution norms.
