Mohan v. The District Collector

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED: 05.02.2019 CORAM :

THE HON'BLE MRS.V.K.TAHILRAMANI, CHIEF JUSTICE AND The HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE M.DURAISWAMY W.P. Nos.27653, 29091 & 34706 of 2018 and W.M.P.Nos.32200, 40257 & 34035 of 2018 1.Mohan 2.P.Shanmugam 3.N.Pattieswaran 4.S.K.Shanmugasundaram 5.E.M.Anifa 6.Kamalaveni 7.Kaliyammal 8.Rangammal 9.Kankandadeivam 10.Kupputhai 11.Papathi 12.Kamalam 13.Sameevel 14.Senchilakshmi 15.Lakshmi 16.Mahendran 17.Murugesan 18.Rajamani 19.Mukkaiyaa 20.Manimegalai 21.Mahendran 22.R.Bakiyanathan 23.Nanjammal 24.Mayilammal 25.Palaniyammal 26.R.Kalimuthu 27.Vijayalakshmi 28.Thangavel 29.Kanagaraj 30.Kandasamy 31.Radhamani 32.Kumar 33.K.Murugesan 34.K.Balan 35.Sarashvathi 36.Selvi 37.Subbulakshmi

38.K.Pappathi 39.Appusamy 40.S.Namachivayam 41.Pathima 42.Pappathi @ Pappammal 43.Bhuvaneshwari 44.Kovai Chandra 45.Rejina 46.Jeyalakshmi 47.Balamurali 48.Baby 49.Sundarampal 50.Manickam .. Petitioners in W.P.No.27653/2018 1.Kumar 2.Chitra 3.Palaniammal 4.Mariyammal 5.S.Priya 6.Ramasamy 7.Kumarasamy 8.Lakshmi 9.R.Ravi 10.Dhandauthapani 11.R.Kalimuthu 12.Vallinayagi 13.Maruthanayagi 14.Poornachandra 15.Pandiyammal 16.Thilagavathi 17.Papathi 18.Malliga 19.Sudarson 20.Sammylakshmi 21.Tamilselvi 22.Ravi 23.Subalakshmi 24.Veliyangiri 25.Kunjammal 26.Nirmala 27.Manikandan 28.K.G.Sunil 29.Selvi W/o Murugan 30.Selvi W/o Sundaram 31.Vennila 32.Kaliraj 33.Shanthi 34.S.Baby 35.Arumugam 36.Leelavathi

37.Suleka 38.Sabeer 39.Sugunaveni 40.Rishwana Praveen 41.N.Baby 42.Arokiyanathan 43.Gunasekaran 44.Anthony Doss 45.S.Krishnamoorthi 46.Shajathi 47.Murugesan 48.Ranganathan 49.Maruthachalamoorthi .. Petitioners in W.P.No.34706/2018 1.Pappathi 2.Mahadevan 3.Haira Nisha 4.Bakyam 5.Sivasankar 6.Parvathi 7.Rukumani 8.Papammal 9.Mariyappan 10.Sarojini 11.K.Mani 12.Muthammal 13.Kasthuriraj 14.Radha 15.Lakshmi 16.Surendiran 17.A.L.Raja 18.Jothimani 19.Muthuramalingam 20.Balakrishnan 21.Thangaraj 22.Babu 23.Malitha Begam 24.Ganesan 25.Papathi 26.Abdul Karim 27.Chellamuthu 28.Rani 29.K.Ram Kumar 30.Velusamy 31.Ganesan 32.Pazhanal 33.Nachammal 34.Bathrammal 35.Kondayammal 36.Jeyamani

37.Kannammal 38.Jeyalakshmi 39.Somasundaram 40.M.Ganam .. Petitioners in W.P.No.29091/2018 Vs.

1.The District Collector, Office of the District Collector, Coimbatore District, Coimbatore.

2.The Commissioner, Corporation of Coimbatore, Office of the Commissioner, Coimbatore Corporation, Coimbatore.

3.The Goundampalayam Town Panchayat, Rep by its Special Officer, Goundampalayam, Coimbatore District.

4.The Executive Engineer, Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, Coimbatore Division, Selvapuram North, Coimbatore - 641 026 Coimbatore District.

.. Respondents 1 to 4 in all W.Ps 5.M/s.Nagammal Street Resident Welfare Association, rep by its President Chinnathambi, Nagammal Street, K.K.Pudur Post, Coimbatore - 641 038.

.. 5th Respondent in W.P.27653/2018 (R5 impleaded vide order dated 10.01.2019 made in W.M.P.No.36326/2018) Petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issue of Writs of mandamus restraining the respondents from evicting the petitioners from the premises in Survey Nos.54/2, 54/3, 56/2, 61/2, 62/3, 63/3, 64/2 and 65/2 situate in Koundampalayam Village, Coimbatore District without providing alternate site to the petitioners.

For Petitioners : Mr.S.Senthil Nathan (in all W.Ps.) For Respondents : Mr.V.Jayaprakash Narayanan, (in all W.Ps.) Government Pleader (i/c) (R1 & R3) Mr.K.Magesh (R2) Mr.S.Prabhu (R4) Mr.Vignesh Venkat (R5 - W.P.No.27653/2018) C O M M O N O R D E R (Order of the Court made by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and M.Duraiswamy, J.) Since the issue involved in all these Writ Petitions are common and relates to the same Survey Numbers, the Writ Petitions are disposed of by this common order. 2.The petitioners have filed the above Writ Petitions to issue Writs of mandamus directing the respondents from evicting the petitioners from the premises in Survey Nos.54/2, 54/3, 56/2, 61/2, 62/3, 63/3, 64/2 and 65/2 situate in Koundampalayam Village, Coimbatore District without providing alternate site to them.

3.It is pertinent to note that one Association by name K.K.Pudur Residence Welfare Association filed a Writ Petition in W.P.No.19121 of 2012 challenging the order passed by the 1st respondent dated 16.06.2012. The Association also filed two other Writ Petitions in W.P.Nos.9958 of 2012 and 9477 of 2016 and the Division Bench of this Court, by order dated 19.01.2017, set aside the order dated 16.06.2012 and also gave the following directions:

"...

(ii)The Corporation of Coimbatore is directed to abide by the recitals of their letter communication dated 15.04.2014 in Na.Ka.No.25186/2000/ Aaa1, wherein and whereby the Coimbatore Corporation had stated that it would provide alternate sites to the occupiers and remove the encroachment (iii)All the respondents are directed to remove the encroachment [subject to (ii) supra] being encroachment in the 1 Km. stretch comprised in S.Nos.54/2, 54/3, 56/2, 61/2, 62/3, 63/3, 64/2 and

65/2 [8 S.Nos. in all] in Koundampalayam Village, Coimbatore District.

(iv)The respondents are directed to comply with (ii) and (iii) supra within a time frame of six months from the date of receipt of this order."

4.According to the petitioners, the respondents are taking action against them for evicting without following the directions of this Court. Further, they have stated that the respondents have not given the alternate places till date. 5.The 2nd respondent filed a counter wherein he has stated that as against the order passed in W.P.Nos.19121 & 9958 of 2012, the petitioners, along with others, preferred Special Leave Petitions in S.L.P.(Civil) Nos.11000 & 11001 of 2018 and the same were dismissed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India on 20.04.2018. The petitioners have not stated anything about the filing and dismissal of the Special Leave Petitions in their respective affidavits.

Further, the 2nd respondent has stated that the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has finalized 252 allottees after checking the necessary documents and door to door verification and the allottees were directed to pay a sum of Rs.36,000/- each to the Slum Clearance Board within a specified period thereby enabling them to allot the houses. After the receipt of such communication, 98 such allottees have given consent to vacate their premises. The other allottees have given representations stating that they are not in a position to pay the sum of Rs.36,000/- due to their financial status. Considering their representation, the Coimbatore Corporation had come forward to deposit the said amounts before the Slum Clearance Board on behalf of the allottees and accordingly, no amount was collected from the allottees.

But the entire amounts, on behalf of the allottees, were deposited by the Corporation before the Slum Clearance Board. Based on the same, fresh allotment letters were given by the Slum Clearance Board intimating that the amounts were already received by them and the allotment is finalized and the allottees were directed to occupy in their houses allotted to them. The 2nd respondent has also furnished the list of persons who had already signed in the Register maintained by the Corporation agreeing for accepting the allotments and the persons who refused to go to the allotted places.

6.The Executive Engineer of the Slum Clearance Board viz., the 4th respondent filed a counter stating that in due compliance of the order passed by the Division Bench of this Court in W.P.Nos.19121 & 9958 of 2012, the respondents have allotted alternate houses to the petitioners and therefore, filing of the present Writ Petitions is unwarranted.

7.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners may be granted time till 30.05.2019 for vacating the encroached lands. 8.Since the respondents are following the directions of this Court made in W.P.Nos.19121 & 9958 of 2012 and have allotted alternate houses, we are not inclined to grant any time to the petitioners. That apart, the petitioners have not stated anything in their affidavits about the dismissal of the Special Leave Petitions.

9.In these circumstances, we are of the considered view that the respondents are duly complying with the directions of this Court made in W.P.Nos.19121 & 9958 of 2012. For the reasons stated above, the Writ Petitions are devoid of merits and the same are liable to be dismissed. Accordingly, the Writ Petitions are dismissed. No costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.

Sd/- Assistant Registrar(CS II) //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar To 1.The District Collector, Office of the District Collector, Coimbatore District, Coimbatore.

2.The Commissioner, Corporation of Coimbatore, Office of the Commissioner, Coimbatore Corporation, Coimbatore.

3.The Goundampalayam Town Panchayat, Rep by its Special Officer, Goundampalayam, Coimbatore District.

4.The Executive Engineer, Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, Coimbatore Division, Selvapuram North, Coimbatore - 641 026 Coimbatore District.

+3cc to Mr.S.Senthil Nathan, Advocate Sr Nos.9668 to 9670 +1cc to Mr.K.Magesh, Advocate sr.9618 +1cc to Mr.S.Prabhu, Advocate Sr.9672 +1cc to Mr.Vignesh Venkat, Advocate Sr.10128 +1cc to the Government Pleader Sr.9986 W.P.Nos.27653, 29091 & 34706 of 2018 and W.M.P.Nos.32200, 40257 & 34035 of 2018 ca[co] srg 22/02/2019