
Coimbatore corporation fails to retrive five cents of OSR land at Shanthi Nagar
Coimbatore: The city corporation has failed to retrieve an encroached open space reserve (OSR) land at Shanthi Nagar, Avarampalayam, despite the Madras high court directing the civic body to remove the encroachment within seven days in its order on May 8.
Nearly five cents of the OSR land have been encroached upon for the past 40 years. At present, a coffee stall has been operating on the encroached land for nearly a year and a half.
It is to be noted that more than 30 cents of OSR land in the same locality were encroached and retrieved by the civic body. While many allocations, including parks and community halls, have been retrieved, about 11 cents allocated for the open space continued to be encroached.
According to sources, plots in the layout approved in 1965 was sold to several buyers with illegal documentation. Plot numbers 39 and 40 were also sold, covering 11 cents in total.
When the issue was taken to the court in October 2024, it directed the corporation to retrieve the encroached land. While 6.5 cents were handed over the corporation, the commercial tenant of the remaining land appealed to the high court. The court issued an order in favour the corporation on May 8.
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Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Reserve Site Protection Committee S P Thiagarajan said, "Last week, the corporation planned for evacuation but dropped it at the last minute. It is not the owner but the tenant of the land who filed a writ petition before the court. The delay in removing the encroachment may help the encroacher buy time to move the Supreme court."

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