Mrs.G.Jayalakshmi v. The Tahsildar
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 09.03.2017
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR.HULUVADI G.RAMESH, ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE M.SUNDAR W.P.No.5860 of 2017 1 G.Jayalakshmi 2 Santhi 3 G.Rajeswari 4 P.Kalpana 5 Kumudha 6 S.Lakshmi 7 C.Janakiraman 8 Dharmaraj 9 C.Suresh 10 S.Sivakami 11 A.Seetharaman 12 Prema Venugopal 13 S.Bhuvaneswari W/o.Saravanan 14 Panchacharam 15 V.Thulukkanam 16 Raju 17 A.Anantharaman 18 Geetha 19 K.Nathiya 20 Velliammal 21 Gajalakshmi 22 Chitra 23 Santha 24 Komala 25 Shenbagavalli 26 Kalavathy 27 G.Nalini 28 S.Lalitha 29 K.Kasinathan 30 Nazeera Begum 31 Dass 32 Rajeswari 33 Karunakaran 34 Lalitha 35 Rajeswari 36 G.Manjula
37 E.Dhanalakshmi 38 B.Kumar 39 C.Menaka 40 Kavitha 41 L.Umarani 42 GAnagadurai 43 Renuka 44 Reeta 45 M.Jayanthi 46 P.Mohan 47 M.Santhi 48 Vijayalakshmi 49 R.Valli 50 S. Saranya 51 S. Anitha 52 K. Balaraman 53 R. Indhumathi 54 S. Janakiraman 55 D. Govindan 56 G.Rajesh 57 E. Priya 58 S.Mary 59 T. Ganesan 60 M. Vijayalakshmi 61 K.Vasanthi 62 R. Banugopal 63 Jayalakshmi 64 A. Mari 65 V.Amudha 66 K. Devi 67 M.Kathirvelu 68 M. Lakshmi 69 R.Vasantha 70 S. Loganathan 71 Kullammal 72 P. Kannan 73 Kanniammal 74 B. Vijaya 75 S. Amirtham 76 Lalitha 77 P. Ambika 78 R. Manjula 79 R. Sundari 80 K. Sathish 81 L.Devaki 82 Saraswathi 83 A.Tamilarasi 84 M. Manickam 85 S. Mala
86 R. Jothi 87 Mala 88 Arjunan 89 L. Baskar 90 Lakshmi 91 Lakshmi W/o.Shanmugam 92 U. Vasuki 93 K.Selvi 94 R.Kala 95 C.Uma 96 R.Saraswathy 97 M. Ramankutty 98 R.Jayabharathi 99 V.Vijayalakshmi 100 M. Rajesh 101 M.N. Velu 102 M.Muniammal 103 P. Nagarani 104 Pushpa 105 R. Vedanayaki 106 Ganapathy 107 N.Danabal 108 S.Thulasi 109 Komathi 110 Jothi 111 S.N.Karkannan 112 R.Venkatesan 113 A.Narasimman 114 N.Ezhilkumar 115 Deepa Elizabeth 116 Sengeni 117 B.Kannaiyan 118 Harikrishnan 119 M.Kanniappan @ Selvam 120 L.Manickammal 121 Loordumeri 122 D.Kumuda 123 Gnanasekar 124 B.Baskar 125 M.Srinivasan 126 G.Mathialagan 127 M.Arunprakash 128 K.Ramesh 129 N.Saravanakumar 130 B.Lingeswari 131 E.Sankar 132 Senthilkumar 133 K.Rajeshwar 134 Raziabee 135 K.Dhanalakshmi
136 A.Ramesh 137 C.Sarada 138 M.Veeraghavan 139 M.Lakshmi 140 Ellammal 141 Nagammal 142 Vijay 143 Chitra 144 Venkatesan 145 Kumaresan 146 B.Anandhi 147 P.Lalli 148 S.Devi 149 V.Mallika 150 Mohana 151 Santhi 152 Gajendran 153 N.Devarajan 154 D.Elavarasi 155 D.Pushpa 156 V.Meenakshi 157 Elumalai 158 Malarvizhi 159 D.Babu 160 Selvam 161 S.Rubavathy 162 D.Umamaheswari 163 V.Muthulakshmi 164 M.Santhi 165 Velayutham 166 Naraynini 167 Robinson 168 Saravanan 169 Ayyanaar 170 R.Sathya 171 M.Ponnammal W/o.Munian 172 Velmurugan 173 Sathiyabama 174 Gnanasekaran 175 Kanniammal 176 A.Mohan 177 P.Ponnusamy 178 Perumal 179 D.Elumalai 180 Gunasundari 181 M.Dhamodaran 182 M.Vijayalakshmi 183 Alamelu 184 Sumithra 185 Muthulakshmi
186 K.Nithiyanandam 187 U. Renuka 188 Latha 189 Tamilselvi 190 Kamatchi 191 K.Venkatesan 192 K.Sundarrajan 193 K.Indira 194 K.Ilamparuthi 195 R.Dhanaskaran 196 D.Rajeswari 197 Gopi 198 S.Pushnam 199 Govindarajan 200 E.Ramu 201 V.Vedachalam 202 A.Selvamani 203 S.Prema 204 R.Saliammal 205 Panner 206 Karthik 207 G. Devarajan 208 Indirani 209 S.Nagammal 210 D.Kumudha 211 Govindan 212 Pushpa 213 Jayakanthan 214 M.Raman 215 K.T.Jayakumar 216 J.Sathiyamurthy 217 P.Anusuya 218 M.Kaliammal 219 R.Thilagavathy 220 Parvathy 221 Kesavan 222 E.Ramachandran 223 J.Dhaneswari 224 K.Vasudevan 225 Devaki 226 D.Anjalai 227 S.Parvathy 228 U.Omega 229 Sankar 230 Maheswari 231 J.Ramamurthy 232 A.Saraswathy 233 M.Selvakumar 234 V.Balakrishnan 235 Sankar
236 K.T.Jayakumar 237 U.Umasankari 238 V.Seethalakshmi 239 J.Govindarajan 240 Jayalakshmi 241 J.Vijaya 242 M.Usharani 243 V.Meenakshi ... Petitioners Vs.
1 The Tahsildar Chengalpattu Taluk Kancheepuram District.
2 The Revenue Inspector Singaperumal Koil Sub Taluk Chengalpattu Taluk Kancheepuram District.
3 The Village Administrative Officer No.61 Singaperumal Koil No.62 Nenjiambakkam No.63 Thirutheri No.64 Parari Chengalpet Taluk Kancheepuram District.
... Respondents PRAYER: Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records of respondents 2 and 3 in their impugned notice dated 23.12.2016 issued under sub Rule (3) of Rule 7 of the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act 1905 and quash the same in respect of possession and enjoyment of the petitioners in Survey No. 109/B situated at No. 63, Thirutheri Village, within the limits of Singaperumalkoil Sub Taluk, Chengalpattu Taluk, Kancheepuram District, and consequently direct the first respondent to consider the issuance of patta to the petitioner based on their possession and enjoyment of 3 cents of land in survey No.109/B situated at No. 63, Thirutheri Village within the limits of Singaperumalkoil Sub Taluk, Chengalpattu Taluk, Kancheepuram District.
For Petitioners : Mr.L.Chandrakumar For Respondents : Mr.R.Vijayakumar Addl. Government Pleader
ORDER
(Order of the Court was made by the Acting Chief Justice) Mr.R.Vijayakumar, learned Additional Government Pleader takes notice for the respondents.
2. Heard the learned counsel for the parties.
3. The petitioners have filed this writ petition seeking issuance of a writ of certiorarified mandamus calling for the records of respondents 2 and 3 in their impugned notice dated 23.12.2016 issued under Sub-section (3) of Section 7 of the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act, 1905 and quash the same in respect of possession and enjoyment of the petitioners herein, and consequently direct the first respondent to consider the issuance of pattas to each the petitioners based on their possession and enjoyment of 3 cents of land in various villages in Chengalpattu Taluk, Kancheepuram District.
4. The petitioners are landless poor persons and are living in the lands in question for over 40 years, having put up their own superstructures and they have obtained ration cards, electricity service connection, water supply connection, etc. It is claimed that Singaperumal Koil Panchayat has granted No Objection to transfer the above land into patta land and a resolution has also been passed to that effect. It is further pleaded that the government vide G.O.Ms.No.854, Revenue Department, dated 30.12.2006 provided 3 Cents of land for house site and pattas to the persons who are all in possession and residing in the government lands for more than ten years and in terms of the said government order, the petitioners are eligible to get free house site pattas and their claim in this regard is under consideration by the authorities.
While things stood thus, it is alleged that respondents 2 and 3 issued notice dated 23.12.2016 under Section 7 of the said Act calling upon the petitioners to show cause as to why they should not be evicted. The petitioners have also submitted their objections to the same. It is alleged that the respondent authorities without following the procedure contemplated under the said Act are threatening to evict the petitioners from the said lands and in such circumstances, they have filed this writ petition for the relief stated supra.
5. The proceedings under challenge in this writ petition are show cause notices issued under Section 7 of the said Act. Admittedly, in response to the said notices, the petitioners have submitted their objections and the same is pending consideration. The anxiety expressed by the petitioners is that
without proper recourse to the procedure contemplated under the said Act the authorities are likely to evict the petitioners.
6. As per the provisions of the said Act, the respondent authorities, after consideration of the objections submitted by the petitioners, have to pass an order under Section 6 of the said Act. Even against the said order, the petitioners have a right to appeal under Section 10 of the said Act before the District Collector. The petitioners are, therefore, entitled to get the procedural safeguards contemplated under the said Act. That being the legal position, the respondent authorities are not supposed to take any coercive action against the petitioners without following the due process of law.
7. In such circumstances, we direct the respondent authorities to strictly adhere to the procedure contemplated under law and till the conclusion of the proceedings, no coercive action shall be taken against the petitioners. The writ petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs. Consequently, W.M.P.No.6271 of 2017 is closed. Sd/- Assistant Registrar(CS VII) //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar sasi To:
1 The Tahsildar, Chengalpattu Taluk, Kancheepuram District.
2 The Revenue Inspector, Singaperumal Koil Sub Taluk, Chengalpattu Taluk, Kancheepuram District.
3 The Village Administrative Officer, No.61 Singaperumal Koil, No.62 Nenjiambakkam, No.63 Thirutheri, No.64 Parari, Chengalpet Taluk, Kancheepuram District.
+1cc to the Government Pleader Sr.15254 +1cc to the M/S.M.R.Jothimanian & C.Muruganandam, Advocate Sr.15453 [24/03/2017] W.P.No.5860 of 2017 ks[co] srg 17/03/2017