SPECIAL TAHSILDAR Vs. S. RAJENDRAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The civil miscellaneous petition is filed to condone the delay of 648 days in filing the above appeal suit against the order passed in L.A.O.P.No.21 of 2003.

(2.) The only reason stated in the affidavit filed in support of the civil miscellaneous petition is that the Special Tahsildar, Land Acquisition, who filed the affidavit, joined in the office of the Special Tahsildar in September 2019 and thereafter, he has taken steps and filed an Appeal. Tahsildar, who all are holding the public office may be transferred by the Government on account of various reasons. However, such administrative transfers would not cause any infringement on the right of the claimants / landlosers, who lost their valuable lands and are waiting for just compensation. The reasons stated by the Tahsildar is not only flimsy, but shows his lackadaisical approach in dealing with the public matters.

(3.) Question arises, that if there is a delay in joining the office of the Special Tahsildar, whether the Tahsildar, who filed his own affidavit have got his salary delayed. The Government Authorities are expected to bear in mind that they are receiving decent amount of salary from the taxpayer's money and thus, they are duty bound to serve in the interest of public and by protecting the rights of the citizen. When they are very much interested in protecting their service rights, they are equally accountable and responsible for protecting the right of the common citizen and more specifically, in the matter of land acquisition, where the claimants / landlosers have lost their valuable lands and are waiting for several years to get just compensation, which cannot be tolerated by Courts and more so, such a delay is occurring at the instance of the Public Authorities. Thus, these Authorities are causing infringement to the property right of the landlosers, which is a Constitutional Right. When the land is acquired for public purposes, the Government should ensure that just compensation is paid within a reasonable period of time.