Shocked over the erstwhile AIADMK government having assigned 3.45 acre of public land near Koyambedu central bus terminus in Chennai for construction of a shopping mall by Baashyam Constructions Private Limited, holding power of attorney from Hotel Saravana Bhavan, the Madras High Court on Monday directed the State government to initiate criminal prosecution against all public servants responsible for “grabbing” of high value government properties across the State.
Justice S.M. Subramaniam also directed the government to look into the structural corruption in the matter of grabbing of public lands and consider enactment of a suitable law to deal with such offences. He further ordered constitution of a high level committee to identify illegalities such as grabbing of government lands, non payment of lease rent and unlawful occupation of public lands and initiate appropriate action including criminal prosecution.
The judge said the 3.45 acre of land, which was part of a larger extent of 10.50 acre on which the shopping mall was to be constructed, was actually classified as a Grama Natham (common village land that could be used only for residential purpose) in the revenue records. However, in 1983, a Tahsildar had re-classified the land from Grama Natham to Ryotwari and in 1994, Hotel Saravana Bhavan had purchased it along with an adjacent private property of 5.80 acre.
Thereafter, requests made by the hotel for grant of patta for the 3.45 acre was rejected since the Commissioner of Land Administration had again re-classifed it as Government Poromboke Grama Natham. In 2005, the then District Revenue Officer U. Sagayam had inspected the land and declared Hotel Saravana Bhavan to be an encroacher of the government land and ordered removal of the hotel’s name board from the valuable property situated in the heart of Chennai.
“The Revenue administration cannot remain a mute spectator to this open act of land grabbing by influential and wealthy people and the said valuable land should be protected from encroachment at any cost... Government land is becoming too scarce in Chennai district and therefore this land should be taken to the prohibitory order book for protection and it is more essential to create a Land Bank in Chennai district to meet future needs of the Government,” the DRO had written.
The judge appreciated Mr. Sagayam for “the courage shown by him and his sense of commitment” and expressed shock over the AIADMK government having assigned the 3.45 acres to Baashyam Constructions on February 8, 2021 for construction of the shopping mall on an investment of ₹1,575 crore. The land was assigned on the ground that the mall would generate jobs and on condition that the realtor must pay a consideration at the rate of ₹12,500 per square feet to the State.
Taking note that the land had been assigned just a couple of months before the 2021 Assembly elections, the judge observed that construction of shopping mall was basically a commercial activitiy intended to benefit private companies and therefore assignment of valuable government land for such a purpose could not be termed to be in public interest. The judge also suspected certain extraneous considerations having been the reason behind the assignment.
After impressing upon the need to protect government properties, the judge recorded the submission of the incumbent government that it had issued another Government Order on November 4, 2022 cancelling the 2021 GO through which the 3.45 acres was assigned to the realtor. He also recorded the submission of Additional Advocate General R. Ramanlaal, assisted by Additional Government Pleader T. Arun Kumar, that the government had fenced the property.
The submissions were made during the hearing of a 2021 writ petition filed by Hotel Saravana Bhavan challenging the 2021 GO on the ground that the hotel was entitled to patta for the land and therefore the question of assignment would not arise at all. However, the judge disagreed with the claim and held that the hotel was basically “an encroacher of a government land for unjust gains in a systematic manner, more specifically with the connivance of government officials.”
Published - September 25, 2023 05:22 pm IST
