MADURAI: The
Madurai
bench of the
Madras high court on Tuesday extended the
interim stay
on the
eviction order
issued to vendors at the commercial complex near
Periyar bus stand
till December 11.
A division bench of Justice R Subbiah and Justice T Krishnavalli was hearing a batch of petitions filed in this regard against the shops being evicted as part of the Madurai Smart City project.
The bench has also directed the additional advocate general to get instructions from the authorities concerned if an alternate place for the 450 vendors have been identified.
Petitioner R V Rajaram, who is the president of one of the merchants’ association, said the corporation issued eviction order on October 22 without issuing any notice to the association or its members.
The eviction order was issued in the guise of notice to evict shops within 15 days of the date of receipt of the order.
“In the order, the corporation made a statement to the effect that officials had a consultation with our association. But, they neither had consulted is nor issued a notice. For reasons best known to the corporation, they have made false statements in the order,” the petitioner stated.
The petition stated that the livelihood of 10,000 people was dependent on these shops.