Exterior of Chennai High Court
Justice SM Subramaniam issued a set of directions to the Tamil Nadu government that included enacting law to prevent encroachment of government land, appointing a committee to identify properties that are illegally occupied, and initiate criminal prosecution and disciplinary action against all, including officials and public servants, who are involved in such illegal activities.
The judge held that the 2021 order by the previous AIADMK regime, assigning the government poramboke-natham land in favour of Baashyaam Constructions, was erroneous. He said, “This court is astonished at the manoeuvers exhibited in a systematic fashion to grab lands belonging to the government illegally. The entire process has been subverted to assign lands to a particular group of people, majorly the wealthy, influential, and political members of the society. The stratagem employed by the land grabbers is foolproof and can be witnessed specifically in lands belonging to the government across different political spectrums. This systemic violation is done hand in hand by the bureaucracy and the politicians”.
In another case, the Madras High Court said individuals who encroach on water bodies are betraying the nation as it would amount to perpetrating an illegality by the government. A division bench of Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice K Rajasekar said while hearing a contempt plea moved against the TN government for failing to implement a court order and remove encroachments from the Pallikaranai Marshland. They said “we will not hesitate to use even military to remove the encroachments. They (particularly to those who occupy water bodies)) must not be given alternative sites at the cost of the exchequer, as it would amount to perpetrating an illegality by the government. We make it clear that if encroachments on water bodies are not removed, this court will be constrained to pass appropriate orders to use military force to remove such encroachments”.
Yet another land grabbing case in Coimbatore, the Madras High Court has ordered the commissioner of land Administration to recover the entire extent of 45.82 acres of public land illegally grabbed by an AIADMK Singanallur MLA K R Jeyaraman and Coimbatore BJP district president U Balaji Utharma Ramaswamy within four weeks and use the lands as well as the buildings for public purposes. .
Justice S M Subramaniam said “ whoever is in illegal occupation of the government land or has constructed buildings , however, would not spare them nor allow them to go scot free and the public land has to be retrieved back from them. Grabbing of government land and illegal constructions are causing greatest concern in the society. Influential people in the society are the large scale grabbers of the government land across the country. The unholy nexus of bureaucrats, politicians and private individuals to grab government land resulting the poor becoming poorer and the rich becoming richer. The noble idea of land reforms and to distribute to eliminate inequalities in the society will be defeated. Unless the courts step in and initiate appropriate action, the principles of social justice and the concept of constitutional democracy are diluted”.
Following Madras High Court orders ( Justice S M Subramaniam), revenue department officials on 27th September recovered a one acre plot of land worth Rs. 150 crore near Kathipara flyover and sealed tea shops, clubs and private shops built on the encroached land that belongs to the government.
In another case, alleging illegal occupation of 186 acres of land in Cuddalore district by the family of DMK Lok Sabha member T R V S Rames and others, Justice Subramaniam has decided to appoint the Commissioner of Land Administration as a court appointed officer to initiate necessary action.
The Madras High Court has ordered two BJP MLAs A John Kumar and his son Richards John Kumar , representing Kamaraj Nagar and Nellithope assembly constituencies respectively in Puducherry and four of his family members to forthwith return Sri Kamatchi Amman Devasthanam lands to prove their bona fide in the wake of their claim of having been innocent purchasers who had no role to play in the alleged fraud, impersonation , misrepresentation, fabrication of documents , corruption and collusion with government officials to grab the land.
They should subject themselves to the probe being conducted into the issue by the Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) on court orders. The judge said “people representatives are expected to be truthful and trustworthy public servants and strive hard for the uplift of the people residing within their constituency and to uphold the constitutional principles of law. They are the parents patriac of the people of their constituency.. the temple property being a public property, is to be protected by the legislative assembly. The SP should go the bottom of the issue and the government should retrieve all the lands belonging to the temple and hand over the possession to the latter”.
Two weeks ago, the Madras High Court has set one month time to DMK’s North Chennai Lok Sabha MP Kalanithi Veerasamy, son of former TMN Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy, to vacate, within a month, government land on which he had constructed a private hospital in Koyambedu in Chennai, failing which he would face eviction proceedings. The DMK MP owns Vee Care Hospital located here. The Tamil Nadu government ordered to allocate 62.93 square meters of this land for the metro rail project.
Justice SM Subramaniam rejected the request of Kalanithi Veerasamy saying, “Grama Nattam land is land for giving to the homeless poor people. The land cannot be used for commercial purposes. The petitioner is an MP. His father is a former minister of Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the petitioner is not a landless poor. Grama Natham was the classification used for common village lands which could be assigned landless poor for residential purpose alone. Such property can’t be used for commercial purpose. ”
Only earlier this month, following a recent order of the court, local DMK functionary, S Ramalingam was evicted from the building within with the aid of the police. The elderly couple’s a long legal battle come to fruitful ending with the cour’s intervention. Justice SM Subramanian said at that time “Using political power and influence to grab land from the powerless common man is nothing short of day-light robbery. The courts will not remain (mute) spectators, especially, when citizens’ right to carry on with a peaceful life under Article 21 of the Constitution is threatened”
These only a few among the recent ( in September) Madras High court orders on the land grabbers, politicians and public land encroachers.
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