Judges’ Quarters in Gudiyatham flooded due to lake breach

The official residences of the Magistrates’ Court and District Munsif Court Judges near the Combined Court Complex in Vellore’s Gudiyatham town were flooded on Tuesday after excessive rainwater from a nearby lake entered the Judges’ Chamber.

The two independent official offices were occupied by Junior Judge K. Prabu and District Munsif Judge K. Karthick Asath along with their families, court officials said. The combined court complex also has a Magistrate’s Court where R. Saranya is a Judge.

“With the onset of the northeast monsoon, the two Judges and their families were evicted from their official residence behind the court complex a week ago. They were staying in temporary accommodation. They will return to their residence after the monsoon,” a court official said. Hindu.

Apart from the two Judges, Magistrate Ms. Saranya has the right to official accommodation. However, he was not provided with any official accommodation as the Magistrate’s current residences were certified “unfit” to stay by the Public Works Department (PWD) some years ago.

PWD officials, who maintain the court buildings, said the land near the lake was a barren government land more than two decades ago. The land near the lake was identified by the State government in 2007-08 for a court complex, including residences for Judges. Later, the local civic body issued an NOC for the construction of the new court, confirming that there was “no waterlogging” in the area.

rapes

Discharge of excess rainwater from nearby villages and wastewater from houses in Gudiyatham municipality has turned the lake into a permanent waterhole, PWD officials said. Over the years, more than 50 settlements, mostly houses, were built on the lake embankment. These illegal structures prevented the lake’s sluice gates from discharging excess rainwater into the Palar River.

Following the warning of the court officials, a team of PWD officials led by PWD (Gudiyatham) Executive Engineer (EE) S. Panneerselvam started repairing the sluice gates of the lake.

PWD officials also said that the repaving of lanes around Judges Quarters by the civic body without scraping has also reduced the height of residential quarters by at least five feet above road level. As a result, Hakimler District, located along the shores of the lake, is flooded every monsoon season.

In a rain-related incident, stagnant rainwater is being pumped from the ancient Jalakanteshwara temple within the Vellore fort complex, a monument protected by YSZ. ASI officials said the temple was flooded for the first time since the 2021 floods as the ditch reached its full capacity last week.