V.S.KUMARASAMY MUDALIAR Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner, who was the owner of a portion of the land acquired for a public purpose, namely, for providing a pathway leading to the burial ground from the harijan colony of Ottai village, has come forward with the present Writ Petition praying for quashing of the proceedings of the first respondent, viz., the District Collector, Villupuram, issuing a notification under Section 4(1) of the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Harijan Welfare Schemes Act 1978 (Act 31 of 1978) on the ground that the same is illegal, incompetent and without jurisdiction.

(2.) THERE was a long standing demand for providing a pathway to the burial ground from the harijan colony in Ottai village since they had to carry the dead bodies to the burial ground only through the patta lands belonging to members of various communities and at times, they had to face stiff resistance from the land owners. Accepting such a demand, the District Collector of Villupuram, authorised the Special Tahsildar, Adi Dravidar Welfare, Tindivanam, to perform the functions of the Collector under Section 4(2) of the said Act. Accordingly, the Special Tahsildar, Adi Dravidar Welfare, Tindivanam, identified the lands to be acquired, issued notice to the interested persons and submitted a report along with the objections to the District Collector, Villupuram, recommending for the acquisition of the portion of the lands comprised in S.Nos. 67, 70, 71, 72, 76 and 77, measuring a total extent of 0.27.0 hectares. The proposed land acquired was separately shown in Sub-divisions in S.Nos. 67/1A, 70/1A, 71/1B, 71/2B, 72/1A, 76/1A, 76/2A, 76/3A and 77/2A. Among the respective owners of the lands comprised in the above said survey numbers, except the petitioner, others did not raise any objection for the proposed acquisition. The petitioner who was the owner of S.No. 71/1 alone raised an objection contending that it was not necessary to acquire the said lands for the provision of pathway leading to the burial ground in S.No. 77/1 since the use of the said poramboke land comprised in S.No. 77/1 in Ottai village had been discontinued and they have got another poramboke land which could be used as burial ground. The report of the Authorised Officer, viz., the Special Tahsildar, Adi Dravidar Welfare, Tindivanam, along with the written objections submitted by the petitioner was considered by the District Collector, Villupuram and upon such consideration, the District Collector, Villupuram was satisfied with the necessity to acquire the above said lands including 0.07.0 hectares of the land comprised in S.No. 71/1 belonging to the petitioner. Consequently, the District Collector issued notification under Section 4(1) of the said Act 31/1978 on 30.12.1999. The same was published in the Official Gazette of the Villupuram District on 10.01.2000.

(3.) MR .V.Raghavachari, learned counsel for the petitioner made the following contentions: