MUTHAMIZH NAGAR WEAKER Vs. GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Muthamizh Nagar Weaker Sections Welfare Sangham (hereinafter referred to as 'the petitioner-Sangham') has brought forth this Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India with the following prayer:-

(2.) The further contention of the petitioner-Sangam is that in the previous rounds of litigation in the form of Writ Petitions, orders were passed not to disturb their possession without following the procedures provided by law; that the then Forest Officials took steps to evict the members of the petitioner-Sangam from the said lands on the premise that the land came within the boundaries of the Reserve Forest; that aggrieved by the same, a Public Interest Litigation was initiated in W.P. No. 24282 of 2005 and an order of interim injunction was obtained in the said Writ Petition; that in the meanwhile, the Government transferred the said lands to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board for constructing a multi storeyed building for the tsunami affected people and for providing accommodation to the encroachers evicted from the Buckingham Canal; that thereafter, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, by virtue of the Government Order passed in G.O.Ms. No. 51, Revenue Department, dated 4.12.2007, took steps to remove the huts and buildings put up by the members of the petitioner-Sangam and that the same was the cause of action for approaching this Court with the present Writ Petition for the abovesaid relief.

(3.) The Writ Petition is opposed by the respondents contending that all the unauthorized occupants of the land allotted to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board for development into multi storeyed building for being allotted to the eligible slum dwellers (Weaker Section of the Society) were evicted; that while all other encroachers were evicted, the members of the petitioner-Sangam, nearly 45 families, who had occupied three acres of land, comprised in S.No. 437 (part) alone stuck on to their occupation consequently and resisted the attempts made by the Authorities concerned so far to evict them for the beneficial scheme to put up a multi storeyed building for the slum dwellers and that the present Writ Petition is nothing but one of the attempts to get that preferential treatment than the others, who were similarly situated. It is the further contention of the respondents that the recognition of the claim of the petitioner-Sangam to allow its members to continue to occupy the encroached land will result in the act of the Government being stamped as "discriminatory" besides allowing the members of the petitioner-Sangam to be hindrance and stumbling block to the welfare measures floated by the State, which had earned acclamation of the Hon'ble Supreme Court on earlier occasion.