Tamil Nadu official to compensate woman for demolishing house by 'mistake'

After demolishing a portion of a woman's house by "mistake", a government official in the Highways department volunteered to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation in Tamil Nadu to avoid contempt of court proceedings.

After Kavitha of Singiripatti village in Salem moved the high court challenging an October 15, 2020 eviction notice, the court had given her liberty to submit a detailed representation to a junior engineer (Highways) in Mettur by enclosing relevant and authenticated documents within 15 days from the date of receipt of the court order dated December 7, 2020.

The engineer will then consider it and pass appropriate orders as per law and provision of the Highway Act within a period of three weeks thereafter, the order noted. The petitioner had time till February 20 to comply with the order. Till such time, the official will not take any action, said the court order issued on January 6.

However, the Assistant Divisional Engineer (Highways), Kothai, demolished the superstructure on December 30. Kothai submitted that she had demolished it by "mistake" and expressed willingness to compensate the petitioner by paying Rs 50,000 within three days. The petitioner accepted the offer.