Moorthy Bashyam v. The Secretary

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 04.09.2025

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM and THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.SARAVANAN and C.M.P.No.13187 of 2023

1. Moorthy Bashyam

2. P.Logalaxmi

3. R.Kesavan

4. B.Srinivasan

5. B.Ragunath ... Appellant(s) Vs.

1. The Secretary, Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government, Revenue Department, Chennai.

2. The Collector, Vellore, Vellore District.

3. The Commissioner, Survey and Settlement, Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005.

4. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Ranipet, Vellore District.

5. The Tahsildar, Arakkonam.

6. The Founder, Social Service & Panchami, Land Retrieval Trust, No.468/A, Jawahar Nagar, Jothi Nagar Post, Arakkonam.

... Respondent(s) Prayer: Appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the order dated 22.06.2022 passed in W.P.No.26791 of 2013. For Appellant(s) : Mr.E.K.Kumaresan For R1 to R4 : Mr.D.Ravichander, Special Government Pleader For R5 : Mr.Avinash Wadhwani

J U D G M E N T

(Judgment of the Court was made by S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.) The writ order dated 22.06.2022 in W.P.No.26791 of 2013 is under challenge in the present writ appeal.

2. The writ petitioners are the appellants before this court. The subject land was originally assigned in favour of the Depressed Class persons under the Revenue Standing Orders. The land was classified as Government poromboke and assigned to the landless poor people in terms of the Revenue Standing Orders. The original assignee sold the property to the

predecessors of the petitioners, who do not belong to the Depressed Class Community.

3. Pertinently, the writ petitioners also do not belong to the Depressed Class community. One of the assessment condition is that the land assigned at free of cost by the Government cannot be alienated in favour of any person within a period of 10 years from the date of assignment, and beyond the check period, it may be alienated only in favour of a person belonging to the Depressed Class community.

4. In the present case, the original assignee sold the property to nonDepressed Class community person and the writ petitioners purchased thereafter, and that being the factum, the assignment conditions were violated. Consequently, the authorities have cancelled the assignment. Challenging the said order, the writ petition came to be instituted, and further direction is sought for to re-classify the land.

5. Reclassification of land is to be undertaken by the Government by following the prescribed procedures. The High Court, in exercise of its

powers under judicial review, cannot direct the authorities to reclassify the land as it involves the assessment of land, assessment usage and purpose etc., of the land concerned. As far as the cancellation of assignment is concerned, since the original assignee violated the assignment conditions, the writ court also found that there is no infirmity in respect of the order which was under challenge in the writ proceedings.

6. That being the factum, the appellant has not made out any acceptable ground for the purpose of interfering with the writ order and consequently, the writ appeal stands dismissed. No costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petition is closed.

(S.M.S.,J.) (C.S.N.,J.) 04.09.2025 skr Index : Yes

To

1. The Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government, Revenue Department, Chennai.

2. The Collector, Vellore, Vellore District.

3. The Commissioner, Survey and Settlement, Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005.

4. The Revenue Divisional Officer, Ranipet, Vellore District.

5. The Tahsildar, Arakkonam.

6. The Founder, Social Service & Panchami, Land Retrieval Trust, No.468/A, Jawahar Nagar, Jothi Nagar Post, Arakkonam.

S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.

and C.SARAVANAN, J.

skr 04.09.2025