REVIEW ALLOTMENT
HC seeks report on free land given to colleges
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai: 05.02.2019
Cracking the whip on educational institutions sitting on vast tracts of land granted for free by governments over the years, the Madras high court on Tuesday questioned the logic behind authorities evicting poor encroachers from small pieces of lands, while allotting hundreds of acres to even profitmaking educational institutions across the state.
Rejecting the plea made by Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) to order the state government to allot 41.92 acres of land at Katpadi for the institute, Justice S M Subramaniam directed the state to review its earlier order allotting 98.8 acres to the institute and to review possible violations of conditions by the institute imposed by the government at the time of allotment.
Expanding the scope of the order to cover all institutions in the state, the court asked the authorities to review allotments made in favour of individuals and institutions to check if there were violations of revenue board standing orders, conditions and government orders.
“If any irregularities or illegalities are identified in respect of those assignments/allotments of government lands, water bodies and water resources, suitable action must be initiated to cancel all such illegal or irregular assignments and restore the public property in favour of the government and utilize the same for the welfare of the public,” Justice Subramaniam said.
The court also directed the government to issue suitable circulars/instructions to all district collectors in this regard to verify and review all assignments already granted in favour of private individuals and institutions, and submit a report to the government.
‘Plot must be safeguarded for welfare scheme’
Justice Subramaniam said, “When the state is actively initiating steps to evict those who encroach upon government lands measuring one or two cents for their livelihood, on what basis, the state is justified in assigning or allotting huge extent of land to commercial institutions either free of cost or by collecting a meagre amount?”
It was VIT which had moved the court against rejection of its plea to allot 41.9 acres of poromboke land lying adjacent to its campus at Katpadi. The government rejected the proposal saying the land had been allotted for the state sports development authority for construction of a multi-purpose sports complex.
Justice Subramaniam, upholding the rejection order, ordered that if necessary the plot should be fenced and safeguarded for public welfare scheme “by constructing a multipurpose sports stadium through without any undue delay.”
“VIT is a private institution and it had already been assigned a land by the government of Tamil Nadu to an extent of 98.8 acres from and out of the said assignment land. VIT is making profits by running the institution. The government rejected VIT’s claim for further assignment of 41.92 acres on the ground that it was a profit-making institution and so can purchase patta lands for the development of their institution,” observed Justice Subramaniam.
Justice Subramaniam, upholding the rejection order, said if necessary the plot should be fenced and safeguarded for public welfare scheme “by constructing a multipurpose sports stadium through without any undue delay”
HC seeks report on free land given to colleges
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai: 05.02.2019
Cracking the whip on educational institutions sitting on vast tracts of land granted for free by governments over the years, the Madras high court on Tuesday questioned the logic behind authorities evicting poor encroachers from small pieces of lands, while allotting hundreds of acres to even profitmaking educational institutions across the state.
Rejecting the plea made by Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) to order the state government to allot 41.92 acres of land at Katpadi for the institute, Justice S M Subramaniam directed the state to review its earlier order allotting 98.8 acres to the institute and to review possible violations of conditions by the institute imposed by the government at the time of allotment.
Expanding the scope of the order to cover all institutions in the state, the court asked the authorities to review allotments made in favour of individuals and institutions to check if there were violations of revenue board standing orders, conditions and government orders.
“If any irregularities or illegalities are identified in respect of those assignments/allotments of government lands, water bodies and water resources, suitable action must be initiated to cancel all such illegal or irregular assignments and restore the public property in favour of the government and utilize the same for the welfare of the public,” Justice Subramaniam said.
The court also directed the government to issue suitable circulars/instructions to all district collectors in this regard to verify and review all assignments already granted in favour of private individuals and institutions, and submit a report to the government.
‘Plot must be safeguarded for welfare scheme’
Justice Subramaniam said, “When the state is actively initiating steps to evict those who encroach upon government lands measuring one or two cents for their livelihood, on what basis, the state is justified in assigning or allotting huge extent of land to commercial institutions either free of cost or by collecting a meagre amount?”
It was VIT which had moved the court against rejection of its plea to allot 41.9 acres of poromboke land lying adjacent to its campus at Katpadi. The government rejected the proposal saying the land had been allotted for the state sports development authority for construction of a multi-purpose sports complex.
Justice Subramaniam, upholding the rejection order, ordered that if necessary the plot should be fenced and safeguarded for public welfare scheme “by constructing a multipurpose sports stadium through without any undue delay.”
“VIT is a private institution and it had already been assigned a land by the government of Tamil Nadu to an extent of 98.8 acres from and out of the said assignment land. VIT is making profits by running the institution. The government rejected VIT’s claim for further assignment of 41.92 acres on the ground that it was a profit-making institution and so can purchase patta lands for the development of their institution,” observed Justice Subramaniam.
Justice Subramaniam, upholding the rejection order, said if necessary the plot should be fenced and safeguarded for public welfare scheme “by constructing a multipurpose sports stadium through without any undue delay”
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