CHENNAI: After 25 years of illegal profession by 97 encroachers, 4.87 acres of high govt land value greater than Rs 200 crore in Velachery is all set to be reclaimed for public use. The Madras top court docket on Wednesday directed the federal government to take away the encroachments in an instant and hand over the property to Southern Railway to be used for Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS).
Treating the violations as land seize and no longer mere encroachments, Justice S Vaidhyanathan ordered recovery of possession to the railways. But it will be a Himalayan activity to take away the encroachments, which come with modern advertisement complexes, fish market, eating places and a mosque.
It all started in 1992, when Tamil Nadu issued a central authority order (GO) with a proposal to allot one cent each to 97 people who were in possession of Survey no.333 in Velachery village, Mambalam-Guindy taluk either free of cost or after the number of a land worth in keeping with the advantage of each case, and after changing the classification of the land from ‘meikkal poromboke’ (grazing land) to ‘grama natham’ (residential land). But in 1997, a tahsildar issued ‘pattas’ for the land in favour of 312 other people, as a substitute of the 97 discussed within the GO. As the tahsildar had no powers to factor such ‘pattas’, the collector disregarded him from provider and cancelled his the pattas he issued, which used to be also upheld by the Madras top court docket.
Subsequently, as Southern Railway requisitioned the land for the MRTS challenge, the federal government on December 29, 2003, passed an order cancelling the 1992 GO and allocated the property to railways. Though the allotment to the 1992 GO used to be only a proposal and no actual allotment had came about, the 97 took ownership of the land and challenged the federal government’s move in top court docket. On June 30, 2004, the court docket passed an period in-between order staying eviction of the encroachers. For the following 13 years the case used to be in chilly storage and the illegal occupiers indiscriminately encroached upon the land construction advertisement complexes, apartments and markets, said railway counsel P T Ramkumar.
Finally, in 2017, the case used to be taken up for listening to by Justice Vaidhyanathan who ordered an inspection of all the area by a crew led by the collector. The inspection published that there were 176 encroachments together with, 111 advertisement structures, 59 residential-cum-commercial buildings, a mosque, and 3 below building structures.
This aside, the file also published that some of the lands were bought to 3rd parties and such sale used to be duly registered within the sub-registrar’s place of business involved.
Noting that such incidents are unfortunate, when the federal government has allocated the land to railways, Justice Vaidyanathan said, “It is for the inspector common of registration to establish as to what number of properties have been bought with the connivance of the place of business of the sub-registrar. When the properties have no longer been allocated to the petitioners, if any sale had taken place, then departmental action has to be initiated against the involved sub-registrar. That aside, it is not a bar to also begin prison action against the sellers and consumers and bring the issue to a logical conclusion.”
Treating the violations as land seize and no longer mere encroachments, Justice S Vaidhyanathan ordered recovery of possession to the railways. But it will be a Himalayan activity to take away the encroachments, which come with modern advertisement complexes, fish market, eating places and a mosque.
It all started in 1992, when Tamil Nadu issued a central authority order (GO) with a proposal to allot one cent each to 97 people who were in possession of Survey no.333 in Velachery village, Mambalam-Guindy taluk either free of cost or after the number of a land worth in keeping with the advantage of each case, and after changing the classification of the land from ‘meikkal poromboke’ (grazing land) to ‘grama natham’ (residential land). But in 1997, a tahsildar issued ‘pattas’ for the land in favour of 312 other people, as a substitute of the 97 discussed within the GO. As the tahsildar had no powers to factor such ‘pattas’, the collector disregarded him from provider and cancelled his the pattas he issued, which used to be also upheld by the Madras top court docket.
Subsequently, as Southern Railway requisitioned the land for the MRTS challenge, the federal government on December 29, 2003, passed an order cancelling the 1992 GO and allocated the property to railways. Though the allotment to the 1992 GO used to be only a proposal and no actual allotment had came about, the 97 took ownership of the land and challenged the federal government’s move in top court docket. On June 30, 2004, the court docket passed an period in-between order staying eviction of the encroachers. For the following 13 years the case used to be in chilly storage and the illegal occupiers indiscriminately encroached upon the land construction advertisement complexes, apartments and markets, said railway counsel P T Ramkumar.
Finally, in 2017, the case used to be taken up for listening to by Justice Vaidhyanathan who ordered an inspection of all the area by a crew led by the collector. The inspection published that there were 176 encroachments together with, 111 advertisement structures, 59 residential-cum-commercial buildings, a mosque, and 3 below building structures.
This aside, the file also published that some of the lands were bought to 3rd parties and such sale used to be duly registered within the sub-registrar’s place of business involved.
Noting that such incidents are unfortunate, when the federal government has allocated the land to railways, Justice Vaidyanathan said, “It is for the inspector common of registration to establish as to what number of properties have been bought with the connivance of the place of business of the sub-registrar. When the properties have no longer been allocated to the petitioners, if any sale had taken place, then departmental action has to be initiated against the involved sub-registrar. That aside, it is not a bar to also begin prison action against the sellers and consumers and bring the issue to a logical conclusion.”
After 25 years, HC reclaims Rs 200 crore land in Velachery
![After 25 years, HC reclaims Rs 200 crore land in Velachery]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
March 22, 2018
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