The proposed Pattinapakkam secretariat complex in Chennai has faced a legal challenge, with former Mylapore DMK MLA Dha Velu moving the Madras high court against the Tamil Nadu government order approving the project at Foreshore Estate.
Velu has filed a public interest litigation petition seeking to quash the government order. He has described the decision as arbitrary and alleged that it reflects non-application of mind by the government. The petition is likely to be taken up for hearing this week by the first bench headed by Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari.
According to the petition, the government did not examine alternative sites before approving the secretariat complex. It also alleges that no topographic, land-use, traffic, parking, street-vending or landscape studies were conducted, and that the recommendation of a competent authority was not obtained before the decision.
The proposed location at Foreshore Estate, also referred to as Pattinapakkam, is described in the petition as a coastal site adjoining a turtle nesting beach and nine fishing villages. Velu has compared the decision with the government’s earlier position on the proposed airport project at Parandur, where, according to the petition, it had insisted on a fresh technical feasibility study and safeguards for water bodies, agricultural land and livelihoods before the project was dropped.
The petition also raises concerns about the road network serving the proposed site. It states that Loop Road is currently the only direct route from Beach Road towards Santhome because of the Metro Rail diversion. The road is described as a 60-foot, four-lane corridor that is already used for parking by people visiting the beach, restaurants and fish market.
The petitioner has further claimed that the court has recorded congestion on the road during morning and evening peak hours. The same route is used by school children travelling to institutions near the proposed site, while hospitals and health centres depend on it for ambulance access, according to the plea.
The legal challenge places the proposed secretariat within a wider urban planning question: whether a major government complex can be approved on a constrained coastal site without publicly documented studies covering traffic, land use, parking, environmental conditions and the effect on existing livelihoods. The petition’s allegations have not yet been adjudicated by the high court.
The court’s first hearing will determine how the challenge proceeds and whether the government is asked to respond to the allegations concerning the approval process and the site’s suitability. Until then, the government order remains the subject of the pending legal challenge, with the project’s planning process under judicial scrutiny.
