HC stays handing over of 36 acres of govt land near Guindy

A hasty' decision by a settlement officer granting pattas (titles) for 36 acres of government land at Guindy worth Rs 1,500 crore, in favour of nine individuals has been stayed by the Madras High Court. Justice V Dhanapalan granted the interim stay on the September 1, 2008 order by the settlement officer after admitting a writ petition filed by the Mambalam-Guindy taluk tahsildar. The large swathe of land is home to several government bodies such as King Institute of Preventive Medicine, Dr MGR Medical University, Tamil Nadu Newsprints Limited and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. The lands were classified as government poromboke, and as per the settlement records they were under the possession of King Institute for over 100 years. The institute's buildings were constructed in 1899 for vaccine production, and they have been declared as structures of historical importance. In 2007, a group of petitioners had filed an application before the settlement officer, claiming to be legal heirs of an Adyar zamindar who was the original owner of all the land in the area before the government took it over under the Tamil Nadu Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act in 1948. The petitioners wanted the government poromboke lands to be returned to them. They sought conversion of the estate into ryotwari lands, wherein lands are owned by farmers and taxes are imposed directly on them. This despite the fact that the deadline for reclaiming the title and re-classification of the lands ended in 1987 itself. On September 1, 2008, the settlement order, a competent authority under the Tamil Nadu Estates Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari Act, then ordered issuance of pattas in favour of nine Chennai residents including Shameer Ali. Additional advocate-general of Tamil Nadu, P Wilson, pointing out that the beneficiaries' application for reconversion of land was barred by limitation (deadline), said the settlement officer had no jurisdiction to entertain such requests. "The official showed undue haste and unwarranted interest in disposing of the application in favour of the respondents," the additional advocate-general submitted. The lands were in the continuous and uninterrupted possession of King institute for over 100 years, he argued, adding that the settlement officer passed orders on the basis of photocopies of documents and oral evidence of four individuals. The high court had to be approached for remedy as the designated Estate Abolition Tribunal is yet to be established in the state, Wilson said, adding that the order of settlement had been passed without following the procedures and affording an opportunity of hearing to authorities.

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