HC quashes merger of Tiruverumbur with Tiruchy

CHENNAI: The notifications of the Municipal Administration and Water Supply secretary merging the Tiruverumbur town panchayat with the Tiruchy Municipal Corporation were quashed by the Madras High Court on Wednesday.The non-compliance of the statutory requirement of publication of the merger proposal in newspapers had vitiated the entire merger process, Justice N Kirubakaran has said. The judge was allowing a writ petition by P Balachandar, a resident of Tiruverumbur, challenging the notifications passed by the previous government in 2010 and in January this year. The petitioner contended that no newspaper publication was made prior to the merger notification. It resulted in the local people not raising any objection for the merger proposal, he argued. Allowing the petition, Justice Kirubakaran observed that it could not be expected that the general public would come to know about the proposal through the government gazette. Hence, non-publication of the notification in newspapers, as per Sec 461 of the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Act, would make the entire merger proceedings non-est in law. It was an incurable defect, the judge said, and set aside all the notifications pertaining to the merger.