V.Chandrasekaran & Anr vs Administrative Officer & Ors

B. Being aggrieved by this, the writ petitioners including the predecessors-in-interest of the appellants, preferred Writ Appeal Nos. 214 to 225 and 435 of 1984, before the Division Bench of the High Court, against the judgment and order dated 16.12.1983, praying for quashing of the Notification issued under Section 4 of the Act, as well. The Government did not challenge the judgment and order dated 16.12.1983. The said writ appeals were allowed vide judgment and order dated 23.8.1985, and the said notification under Section 4(1) of the Act, only in respect of the land, which constituted the subject matter of the aforementioned appeals, was quashed. Against the judgment and order dated 23.8.1985, the Government of Tamil Nadu preferred a Special Leave Petition before this Court, which was dismissed vide order dated 6.5.1992. Thus, those orders attained finality.

E. A second award was made on 14.8.1986, in relation to the remaining part of said land, including a part of the suit land, i.e. Survey No. 284/2.

G. The tenure-holders/persons-interested in the suit land, after receiving compensation, and handing over the possession to the respondents authorities with respect to the suit land, transferred the said land to some persons, and ultimately, after undergoing multiple sales, the suit land was purchased by the appellants herein, vide sale- deeds dated 4.3.2004, 10.11.2004, 7.7.2005 and 11.8.2005. As a result thereof, they claim to have acquired possession of the said suit land. The appellants planned to construct flats upon the said land, for the purpose of which, they had also obtained permission from the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority on 16.3.2007. Applications were filed by the original tenure-holders for re-conveyance of the suit land which stood as rejected vide order dated 7.7.2008.

H. Being aggrieved, the appellants filed Writ Petition No. 6108 of 2009 for the quashing of the Notification dated 15.5.1978, issued under Section 4 of the Act, pertaining to the land that comprised 9 Survey Numbers, including the suit land contending that the declaration under Section 6 had been quashed in toto and no fresh declaration was subsequently issued. The proceedings therefore, automatically lapsed as there could be no Award without a fresh declaration, and therefore, all subsequent proceedings would be void ab-initio. Another Writ Petition No. 20896 of 2009, was also filed seeking totally inconsistent/contrary reliefs i.e. praying for the quashing of the letter dated 7.7.2005, as also for the issuance of directions to re-convey the suit land in favour of the appellants.

From the facts it is evident that, the predecessor-in-interest of the appellants approached the court by filing Writ Petitions as well as writ appeals, with respect to some of their lands, but for the reasons best known to them, they did not challenge the acquisition proceedings so far as the suit land is concerned. The appellants filed a writ petition for quashing the land acquisition proceedings and/or seeking a declaration to the effect that the notification issued under Section 4 of the Act on 15.5.1978, in relation to Survey Nos. 282/1, 282/2, 283/1, 283/2, 284/1, 284/2, 284/3, 284/4 situated in Tambaram Village, Chennai, had lapsed and become inoperative and consequently, to issue a mandamus, barring the respondents, their men, their agents, subordinates, servants or anyone acting under them, from interfering in any manner, with the peaceful enjoyment of the properties belonging to the appellants, as stipulated in the aforementioned surveys.

In view of the above, we are of the considered opinion that the sale deeds in favour of the appellants are void and unenforceable.

42. After considering the entire material on record, we reach the following inescapable conclusions:-

ii) Predecessors-in-interest of the appellants have filed two writ petitions challenging the validity of acquisition of some of their land but they did not raise the issue of validity of the acquisition in respect of the suit land.

xi) The appellants filed an affidavit before the High Court only to mislead the court by furnishing false information.

xii) The appellants also managed to obtain certain orders from the Department and further have abused the process of the court.

xiii) The appellants did neither approach the statutory authority nor the court with clean hands.

xiv) Compensation was paid to the original tenure holders in 1983 and 1986. The same was refunded by the present appellants in the name of the original tenure holders in 2010 i.e. after 27 years, and the same has not been accepted by the Board and has been duly returned to the appellants.

(xix) The land once vested in the State, free from all encumbrances cannot be divested.

xx) The appellants had attempted to be succeeded in illegally/unauthorisedly encroaching upon public land, by connivance with the officers of the State Govt./Board and raised a huge construction upon the said land, after getting the Plan sanctioned from the competent statutory authority.

xxi) The State/Board authorities never made an attempt to stop the construction. Nor the Board approached the court to restrain the appellants from encroaching upon its land and construction of the flats. Connivance of the officers of the Board in the scandal is writ large and does not require any proof.

43. The aforesaid conclusions do not warrant any relief to the appellants. The appeals are dismissed with the costs of Rupees Twenty Five lacs, which the appellants are directed to deposit with the Supreme Court Legal Services Authority within a period of six weeks.

44. In addition thereto, the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu is requested to examine the issues involved in the case and find out as who were the officials of the State or Board responsible for this loot of the public properties and proceed against them in accordance with law. He is further directed to ensure eviction of the appellants from the public land forthwith.