Madras High Court adjourns Pallikaranai interim zone of influence case to November 11

The Madras High Court on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) adjourned to November 11, 2026 a batch of cases filed against a construction ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on a one-kilometre radius around the boundaries of the Pallikaranai marshland, a Ramsar site, in Chennai.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan said, in the meantime, they would go through a report filed by Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority for declaring 36 survey numbers covering 128.19 hectares as an interim Zone of Influence (ZoI).

The judges said that they will seek clarifications, if any, regarding the declaration of an interim ZoI on the next date of hearing and then pass orders with respect to the declaration which could be enforced until the determination of a final ZoI after elaborate studies required to do so.

The case was adjourned after hearing the arguments of Additional Advocates General P.V. Balasubramaniam and T. Gowthaman for TNSWA and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority respectivley and senior counsel P.S. Raman, V. Prakash and Srinath Sridevan for CREDAI-Chennai and other writ petitioners.

Mr. Raman told the court that the interim ZoI proposed by the TNSWA was completely acceptable to all the writ petitioners before the court. He said, the TNSWA had left a sufficient buffer zone around the existing boundaries of the marshland and then identified the survey numbers which could be declared as interim ZoI.

Mr. Balasubramaniam said, the existing boundaries of the marshland itself by itself was not final and that the actual area of the marshland may shrink after final determination. So, the existing buffer zone and interim ZoI would ensure that sufficient extent of the land around the marsh gets protected, he said.