The Madras High Court has initiated suo motu contempt of court proceedings against former Chennai Collector J. Vijaya Rani for having violated Supreme Court orders by passing an arbitral award in a dispute over payment of compensation to those whose lands were acquired for widening National Highway 47.
Justice P. Velmurugan ordered issuance of statutory notice to Ms. Rani on the contempt proceedings and directed her to appear before the court on November 6. The judge wrote that the former Collector, in her capacity as the arbitrator, had passed the award despite being informed of an interim stay granted by the Supreme Court.
The judge allowed a writ petition filed by a Project Director of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and set aside the January 24, 2022 order of the Chennai Collector in the arbitration proceedings initiated at the instance of four individuals whose lands were acquired way back in 2007 for the widening of the highway.
