Selvam S/O. Jayaraman Naiker v. P.Murugan
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
( Special Original Jurisdiction ) Wednesday, the Twenty Fifth day of August Two Thousand Twenty One PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE SANJIB BANERJEE, THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND THE HON`BLE MR JUSTICE P.D.AUDIKESAVALU WMP.NO.19084 OF 2021 IN WP.NO.6919 OF 2019 1 SELVAM [ PETITIONERS ] 2 VELMURUGAN 3 VENKATESAN 4 SAMPATH 5 KRISHNAMOORTHY 6 SUBRAMANI NAIKER 7 SHANMUGAM 8 CHANDRAMOHAN 9 DHANASEKARAN 10 MURUGAN 11 JAYASANKAR 12 PARASURAMAN 13 SELVAM 14 NATARAJ Vs 1 P.MURUGAN [ RESPONDENTS ] 2 THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR
3 THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (PANCHAYAT), 4 THE REVENUE DIVISIONAL OFFICER TIRUVANNAMALAI- 606 601 5 THE TAHSILDAR TALUK OFFICE CHENGAM AND CHENGAM TALUK TIRUVANNAMALAI- 606 701 6 THE BLOCK DEVELOPMENT OFFICER (VILLAGE PANCHAYAT) UNION OFFICE, CHENGAM, TIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT - 606 701 7 THE REVENUE INSPECTOR PACHAL FIRKA, PACHAL VILLAGE CHENGAM TALUK,TIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT -606 704 8 THE VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, KANNAKURUKKAI VILLAGE PACHAL POST CHENGAM TALUK 606 704 TIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT.
9 HARIRAM 10 KAMARAJ 11 DEVAN 12 RAMALINGAM ALIAS DHANASEKARAN 13 PANNEER 14 PALANI 15 SAKTHIVEL 16 SELVAM 17 KUMAR 18 GOVINDASAMY 19 ARUMUGAM 20 SANTHI 21 RAVI 22 KANNABIRAN 23 NAVANEETHAM
24 MANI 25 ARUMUGAM 26 SIVANANDAM 27 VIJAYA 28 BASKARAN 29 SOUNDER 30 PAVUNKUMAR 31 SIVANANDAM 32 SIVASANKAR Petition praying that in the circumstances stated therein and in the affidavit filed therewith the High Court will be pleased to modify/clarify the order made in WP.No.6919 of 2019 dated 07.12.2020 by directing appropriate consideration of the claim of the petitioners as per the statutory act and rules. (In WMP.NO.19084/2021) Order : This petition coming on this day for hearing upon perusing the petition and the affidavit filed in support thereof and upon hearing the arguments of MR.L.CHANDRAKUMAR, Advocate for the petitioner and of M/S.M.SRIDHAR, Advocate for the 1st Respondent and of M/S.R.ANITA, Counsel for State for the Respondents 2 to 5 and 7, the court made the following order:- (Made by the Hon'ble Chief Justice) The application is for modification of an order dated December 7, 2020 by which the writ petition was disposed of.
2. The applicants claim to have been added as parties but say that the applicants could not be represented when the petition was disposed of on December 7, 2020 due to connectivity problems. The main grievance of the applicants pertains to the direction issued in paragraph 4 of the relevant order:
"4.This Court, taking into consideration the facts and circumstances, and after considering the rival submissions, directs the 5th respondent to follow due process of law and also by adhering to the principles of natural justice, to cause removal of the encroachments in respect of the land in Survey Nos.92, 95, 78/1, 6/1 and 87 of Kannakurukai Village, Pachaal Post, Chengal Taluk, Thiruvannamalai District, and complete the said exercise within a period of ten weeks from the date of receipt of
a copy of this order and communicate the decision taken to the petitioner, as well as to the private respondents, and other encroachers, if any."
3. The applicants say that they are in possession of documents that would justify the applicants' occupation of the relevant premises. The applicants submit that in view of the wording of the relevant order, particularly at paragraph 4 thereof, the authorities are purporting not to follow the due procedure and remove the applicants from the premises without affording any opportunity to the applicants to present their case.
4. Paragraph 4 of the relevant order is clear and there can be no room for any confusion. It has directed the fifth respondent Block Development Officer "to follow due process of law and also by adhering to the principles of natural justice". It is true that the relevant paragraph has also required the encroachments to be removed but that does not imply that the perceived encroachers may not be heard or may be summarily removed without being afforded any reasonable hearing.
5. Since paragraph 4 of the relevant order is quite clear and there should not be any doubt in any official's mind as how to go about the matter in the light of such directions, W.M.P.No.19084 of 2021 is dismissed as redundant. There will be no order as to costs. W.P.No.6919 of 2019 should be regarded as disposed of. -sd/- 25/08/2021 / TRUE COPY / Sub Assistant Registrar ( Statistics / C.S. ) High Court, Madras - 600 104.
TO 1 THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR COLLECORATE TIRUVANNAMALAI- 606 604 2 THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (PANCHAYAT), 3 THE REVENUE DIVISIONAL OFFICER TIRUVANNAMALAI- 606 601 4 THE TAHSILDAR TALUK OFFICE CHENGAM AND CHENGAM TALUK TIRUVANNAMALAI- 606 701 5 THE BLOCK DEVELOPMENT OFFICER (VILLAGE PANCHAYAT) UNION OFFICE, CHENGAM, TIRUVANNAMALAI- 606 701
6 THE REVENUE INSPECTOR PACHAL FIRKA, PACHAL VILLAGE CHENGAM TALUK TIRUVANNAMALAI- 606 704 7 THE VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, KANNAKURUKKAI VILLAGE PACHAL POST CHENGAM TALUK 606 704 TIRUVANNAMALAI Order in WMP.NO.19084/2021 IN WP.NO.6919/2019 Date :25/08/2021 From 26.2.2001 the Registry is issuing certified copies of the Interim Orders in this format PM(27/08/2021)