The GCC intends to create ‘blue flag’ areas in four stretches of the Marina beach and prevent hawking in those stretches.
The Madras High Court has accepted a revised layout map submitted by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) after restricting the number of shops on the Marina beach in Chennai to 300, as directed by the court during the last hearing, and appointed retired Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar to head a monitoring committee for drawal of lots to allot those shops.
A special Division Bench of Justices R. Suresh Kumar and A.D. Jagadish Chandira recorded the submissions of Advocate General (A-G) P.S. Raman that the GCC intends to create ‘blue flag’ (an international eco-label awarded to beaches) areas in four different stretches, totally spread over 121 acres, on the Marina beach and prevent hawking in those stretches.
While the first blue flag stretch, spread over 25 acres, had been declared open for public use since September 2025; the other three stretches spread over 38 acres, 23 and 35 acres would come into operation under Phase II, III and IV of the project respectively would be put into operation in the days to come and all of them would be hawker free zones, he said.
Further, explaining the places where the 300 shops would be located, the A-G said, 100 shops would be allowed in four rows (with each row having 25 shops each) between the first and second stretches of the blue flag areas. Similarly, 100 more shops would be permitted between the first and third stretches and 80 shops in eight rows would be allowed between the second and fourth stretches of blue flag areas.
The rest of the 20 shops would be allowed beyond the fourth stretch and would be located behind the Light House in two rows, he said. The A-G also assured the court the shops would be occupying less than two acres of the total area of the beach and that the rest of the beach, including the blue flag areas as well as the non blue flag areas, would be completely free of hawkers.
After recording his submissions, the judges directed the GCC to constitute an ad-hoc committee headed by its Commissioner for the purpose of drawing lots for allotment of the 300 shops. The court said the former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court would monitor the entire process and he would be assisted by retired district judge T. Mohan Raj and retired deputy registrar of the High Court R. Ranganathan.
The GCC was directed to pay an initial honorarium of ₹5 lakh to the retired Chief Justice and ₹2 lakh each to the other two members of the monitoring panel. The judges also made it clear all those who were operating 1,417 shops on the Marina beach at present would be eligible to participate in the drawal of lots for the reduced number of 300 shops as per the orders of the court.
The Bench directed the High Court Registry to list the case next on March 4, 2026 to take stock of the progress made in the allotment of shops.
Published – January 21, 2026 10:22 pm IST
