4 months ago
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The Madras High Court connected Thursday (January 8, 2026) ordered that lone 300 shops beryllium allowed connected the full agelong of the Marina formation successful Chennai astatine the complaint of 100 shops each for selling eatables, toys, and souvenirs. It besides ordered the allotment of these shops done drawal of tons nether the supervision of a retired justice of the High Court.
A peculiar Division Bench of Justices R. Suresh Kumar and A.D. Jagadish Chandira, constituted to perceive municipality vending related cases, passed the orders aft disapproving of a revised program submitted by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) connected Thursday to trim the fig of shops connected the formation from 1,417 to 1,006.
Wondering however thousands of shops could beryllium allowed connected the Marina beach, wherever a drone survey had enumerated arsenic galore 1,980 shops, Justice Suresh Kumar said: “Please amusement 1 formation successful the satellite with these galore shops. A formation indispensable beryllium for the children to play, not for hawkers to squat over.”
At the aforesaid time, appreciating the GCC for having taken the inaugural to get the internationally recognised ‘blue flag’ tag for antithetic stretches of the Marina formation by making them hawkers-free and creating assorted infrastructural facilities, the judges said, the fig of shops should needfully beryllium brought down.
The Bench besides ordered the hold of the ‘blue flag’ country and said, nary different items but for eatables, toys, and souvenirs should beryllium allowed to beryllium sold connected the formation successful bid to reconstruct its mislaid glory. Justice Chandira besides remarked that determination was nary different formation that was arsenic clumsy arsenic the Marina due to the fact that of the shops.
The 2 judges had conducted a carnal inspection of the formation connected December 22, 2025, successful the beingness of GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran and different apical officials from the Revenue and Police departments and suggested that the GCC taxable a revised program by reducing the fig of shops connected the beach.
Though the GCC connected Thursday submitted the revised program for reducing the fig of shops from 1,417 to 1,006, Justice Kumar expressed displeasure implicit the paltry simplification and said: “If you don’t privation to bring down the fig of shops, permission it to us. We volition hole the number. Don’t person the formation into a bazaar.”
Thereafter, the judges went connected to dictate orders fixing the maximum fig of shops that could beryllium permitted connected the formation to 300 and decided to name, connected January 20, the retired High Court justice nether whose supervision the drawal of tons for allotment of shops could beryllium made by the GCC.
