M. Sekar v. District Collector

Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issue of Writ of Mandamus to direct the second respondent to consider the review petition of the petitioner dated 04.2.2016 in view of the G.O.M.S No. 540 Revenue (LD6 (2)) Department dated 04.12.2014 and consequently direct the respondents to take immediate and necessary steps to remove all the illegal encroachments made in Singalanthapuram village, Rasipuram Taluk, Namakkal District.

Sanjay Kishan Kaul, C.J:— We have perused the counter-affidavits. We are satisfied with the stand of the respondents that necessary action has been taken and there is no large scale violation, as has been alleged. We may however note the Division Bench judgment of this Court referred to by the petitioner in Zonal Officer-V, Corporation of Chennai, Chennai-600 010 v. K. Narasa Reddy, Kances Constructions Pvt. Ltd., Chennai-17, reported in (2012) 4 MLJ 646, where it has been observed in paragraph 17 as under:—

“17. The pathetic situation prevailing in this part of the globe, as we observed is that, ignoring the fact that Gramanatham land is a common village land, the greedy persons like the writ petitioner in this case are indulging in activities, which are purely commercial in nature. When the appellants themselves have accepted in all fairness that patta has been issued erroneously and that they have initiated necessary proceedings to cancel the same, we are unable to find fault with the impugned action initiated by the appellants herein. This rampant practice of misusing the Gramanatham lands in this part of the globe has to be curtailed immediately, so as to protect the common village lands for the welfare of the public in general. Therefore, the Government of Tamil Nadu and its revenue officials are directed to strictly protect the Gramanatham lands from being misused, particularly for commercial purposes.”

2. The aforesaid aspect will be kept in mind by the respondent/authorities while examining the utilization of the Gramanatham lands.

3. The writ petition, accordingly, closed. No costs.