HC sets aside TN govt order acquiring land of Kodanad Estate

suchithkc

Chennai, Apr 6 :The Madras High Court today set aside an order of Tamil Nadu Government in December last year for acquiring the land belonging to Kodanad Estate, used by AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa, for laying a public road for development of two villages.

In January, the management of Kodanad Estate had filed a petition in High Court challenging a state GO and sought stay on a notification issued by the thasildar on December last year relating to acquisition of its lands for laying roads.

In its notification the government announced taking over of the lands of the Estate in Nilgiris district for developing a public road for two hamlets.

In his petition, the estate manager S Natrajan had said the notification was mala fide and it was issued with the sole intent of prejudicing the rights of the estate.

The "camouflage of public purpose" set out in the notification was baseless and contrary to the facts, he said.

He contended if private roads of the estate were converted into public roads, then safety and privacy of the residents of Kodanad Estate would be violated and the impugned proceedings were not accordance with provisions of the Land Acquisition Act.

Allowing the writ petition filed by the Kodanad Management, Justice K Chandru observed, "The impugned order of the government had showed an undue haste, lethargy and non application of mind."

"The state had not given any valid reason for dispensing with the enquiry Section 5A. This is especially in the context that they themselves were not sure about the extent of land to be acquired. They had also not inspected the property in question as per their own admission," the judge said.

The Judge said, "Apprehension raised by the petitioner that keeping open the road for all times for public may cause prejudice to them can not be said to be wholly unreasonable or unjustified...There was total non-application of mind on the part of state in issuing the impugned notification. Though in this case the alleged malafide are not attributed against any particular person in the government, certainly there is malice in law."