HC tells TN govt to convene meeting on upkeep of Mamallapuram

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed different departments of the Tamil Nadu government to convene within three weeks a joint meeting and file a report on the upkeep of the tourist town of Mamallapuram near here. The town was cleaned and spruced for the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October last year.

A division bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and R Suresh Kumar gave the directive based on a memo filed by the Assistant Solicitor General Karthikeyan on the revenue collected by the Archaeology Survey of India. The memo was filed as per the earlier direction of the bench which had on its own taken up the issue concerning the tourist place based on a note prepared by Justice N Kirubakaran to preserve its beauty and safeguard the monuments, and to protect tourists visiting the town.

Justice Kirubakaran had noted that during the run-up to the summit last year, the tourist town was given a face-lift. But days after the two leaders met, the judge said the town was back to its usual self of being stricken by squalor and dirt. The bench was informed that a total revenue of Rs 5.98 crore was collected during 2016-17, Rs 6.65 crore in 2017-18, Rs 8.14 crore in 2018-19, and Rs 6.87 crore upto December 2019 as entry fee from Indian and foreign visitors.

It was informed that revenue collection from the entry fee was being deposited in the consolidated funds of the Central government and therefore it did not plough back to ASI.

Hence, it was not possible to share any revenue collected from the entry fee, the ASG submitted. The bench then directed the secretaries of Municipal Administrative and Water Supply Department, Finance Department and Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation and the Director General of Archaeological Survey of India to convene the joint meeting for Mamallapuram's upkeep and maintenance.