Municipal authorities are legally obligated to remove encroachments from public streets to ensure public access, subject to following due process of law.

BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT Dated : 04.06.2026 CORAM THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.SATHISH KUMAR and THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.JOTHIRAMAN W.P(MD)No.14885 of 2026 P.Kanagaraj ... Petitioner Vs.

1. The District Collector/Monitoring Committee, Collector Office, Theni District.

2. The Tahsildar, Uthamapalayam, Uthamapalayam Taluk, Theni District.

3. The Commissioner, Cumbum Municipality, Cumbum, Theni District.

4. Sangeetha

5. Ranjith Kumar ... Respondents PRAYER :- Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying this Court to issue a Writ of Mandamus, directing the 1 to 3 respondents to conclude the proceedings initiated on 26.02.2026 and forthwith remove all encroachments on the public street at Ulagathevar 6th street, Cumbum, Block No.04, TS.No.22 and to ensure that no further encroachments are permitted in future within a stipulated period of time fixed by this Court.

For Petitioner : Mr.M.Sivakumar For R1 & R2 : Mr.B.Saravanan, Senior Counsel, for Mr.M.P.Senthil, Counsel for Government of Tamilnadu For R3 : Mr.K.Hema Karthikeyan Standing Counsel

ORDER

(Order of the Court was made by N.SATHISH KUMAR, J.)

The prayer in this writ petition is to issue a Writ of Mandamus, directing the respondents 1 to 3 to conclude the proceedings initiated on 26.02.2026 and forthwith remove all encroachments on the public street at Ulagathevar 6^th street, Cumbum, Block No.04, TS.No.22 and to ensure that no further encroachments are permitted in future.

2. Learned Standing Counsel appearing for the 3^rd respondent would submit that already the 3^rd respondent Municipality issued notices to the encroachers and the entire encroachments in the public street will be removed within a period of three months.

3. Recording the above submission, the 3^rd respondent is directed to remove all the encroachments in the public street in question, by due process of law, within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

4. With the above direction, the Writ Petition is disposed of. No costs.