Chennai: The Madras High Court has stayed the working of an unlicensed private 'dhobi ghat' (commercial washing facility) in the middle of a residential area here.
Justice K K Sasidharan granted the interim injunction on a petition by schoolteacher T William Moses, who alleged that the 'ghat' used two borewells and chemicals, posing a healthrisk to other residents of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board colony in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar.
In his petition, Moses contended that following an earlier round of litigation, the facility was sealed and reopened only on condition that the man running it give an undertaking he would not wash clothes on the premises without valid licence.
Noting that the facility did not have proper drainage, Moses alleged they washed clothes of patients from hospitals and other materials there, posing health hazard to others.
He also enclosed photos of clothes being dried in the open and said chemicals and stagnating water too inconvenienced other residents, whose water sources faced the risk of getting polluted.
Noting that the area was classified a primary residential zone, he said commercial washing could not be allowed to function there and sought a directive to Corporation officials to restrain the man from running the facility without licence.
The judge then issued notices to Chennai Corporation and adjourned the matter to December 13 for further hearing.
