Influential people in society are large-scale grabbers of government lands across the country, says Madras High Court

Influential people illegally grab govt. lands: Madras HC. HC orders Commissioner of Land Admin. to take possession of 45.82 acres & utilise for public purposes. HC finds family members of G. Govindasamy Naidu had not handed over land to govt. & sought patta. HC warns against allowing bureaucrats & politicos to loot public lands & infringe citizens' rights. HC appoints Commissioner of Land Admin. to take action in another case of illegal occupation of 186 acres.

Influential people in the society are the large scale grabbers of government lands across the country, the Madras High Court observed on Wednesday after being told that Singanallur MLA K.R. Jeyaram of AIADMK and Bharatiya Janata Party district president U. Balaji Uthama Ramasamy had illegally got government lands at Velankurichi village transferred to their names and also constructed several buildings on those lands.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam directed the Commissioner of Land Administration to take possession of the entire extent of 45.82 acres within four weeks and utilise the lands as well as the buildings for public purposes. The orders were passed on a joint writ petition filed by the MLA, the BJP district president and others in 2018 against a Revenue Divisional Officer’s 2017 order refusing to grant ‘patta’ (revenue document on land ownership) for the property.

On perusal of the records, the judge found that the land originally belonged to G. Govindasamy Naidu but had got declared as surplus under the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling) Act, 1961. However, the legal heirs did not hand over the property to the government in accordance with the law and instead continued to approach the government officials, besides resorting to legal remedies before the High Court, in order to obtain patta for the land.

A writ petition filed in this regard in 2002 was dismissed by Justice M.M. Sundresh (now a Supreme Court judge) in 2010 and his judgement was confirmed by a Division Bench of the High Court in 2011. Even thereafter, the family members did not let the matter rest. One more writ petition was filed in 2011 seeking a direction to the Coimbatore North Tahsildar to grant patta and a direction was obtained to consider the application. Thereafter, the Tahsildar granted patta in 2012.

However, on appeal, a Revenue Divisional Officer overturned the Tahsildar’s order leading to the present writ petition. Not finding any reason to entertain the petition, Justice Subramaniam held that the petitioners could not be allowed to unsettle the issues that were settled by a Division Bench of the High Court in 2012 itself. He also wrote that grabbing of government lands and illegal constructions were causing greatest concern in society.

“Influential people in the society are the large-scale grabbers of the government lands across the country. Unless the courts step in and initiate appropriate action, the principles of social justice and the concept of constitutional democracy are diluted. Large scale nexus between the bureaucrats and the politicians and the private individuals play pivotal role in grabbing of the government lands on account of sky rocketing of market value of the lands,” the judge said.

“Whosoever is in illegal occupation of the government lands or has constructed illegal buildings in the said government lands, howsoever high they are, this court would neither spare them nor allow them go scot free. Under the guise of performing public services, neither the bureaucrats nor the politicos can be allowed to loot the public lands and thereby cause infringement of the basic right of the citizens,” Justice Subramaniam ordered.