HC asks pvt trust to return 30 acres of land to state govt
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai:11.07.2019
Morethan 44 years after the then M G Ramachandran regime gifted 40 acres of Nanmangalam forest land on the city fringes to Quaid-e-Milleth Educational and Social Trust, the Madras high court has directed the institution to return 29.33 acres of the land to the government immediately. The trust has been paying ₹100 per acre per year and running several educational institutions at the site near Medavakkam.
As for the remaining 10.67 acres which had been put to use by the management, the HC directed it to plant at least 500 fruit-bearing or shade-giving trees suitable to local conditions within six months and maintain them. If this condition is not complied with, the government is free to take back the remaining land also, the court said. This apart, the institution has also been directed to construct, with due permission and approval of the forest department, CMDA and the municipal corporation, a 8-ft stone boundary wall around the 10.67 acres to ensure that no further encroachment of any part of the forest land is made by the trust.
A division bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and C V Karthikeyan passed the order while dismissing the appeal moved by the institution.
On January 10,1975, the then Tamil Nadu government issued a GO allotting 40 acres in Nanmangalam reserve forest in Sholinganallur taluk in Kancheepuram district to the trust, on condition that it should utilise the land only for educational purpose, on payment of ₹100 per acre. The land should be reverted back to the forest department, in case it could not be utilised for the specified purpose for which it was granted.
Subsequently, the trust sought de-reservation of the land which was classified as reserved forest, but as the Forest (Conservation) Act was brought in by the Centre, the trust was compelled to move the Supreme Court for such relief. On September 16, 2011, the apex court, without expressing any opinion, directed the state to consider the case by conducting proper inquiry. On September 25, 2012, the state issued a GO resuming 29.33 acres of the land allotted to the trust as it remained unused. Challenging the order, the trust moved the court which was dismissed by a single judge of the court on August 8, 2018. Aggrieved, the trust moved the present appeal.
Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com
Chennai:11.07.2019
Morethan 44 years after the then M G Ramachandran regime gifted 40 acres of Nanmangalam forest land on the city fringes to Quaid-e-Milleth Educational and Social Trust, the Madras high court has directed the institution to return 29.33 acres of the land to the government immediately. The trust has been paying ₹100 per acre per year and running several educational institutions at the site near Medavakkam.
As for the remaining 10.67 acres which had been put to use by the management, the HC directed it to plant at least 500 fruit-bearing or shade-giving trees suitable to local conditions within six months and maintain them. If this condition is not complied with, the government is free to take back the remaining land also, the court said. This apart, the institution has also been directed to construct, with due permission and approval of the forest department, CMDA and the municipal corporation, a 8-ft stone boundary wall around the 10.67 acres to ensure that no further encroachment of any part of the forest land is made by the trust.
A division bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and C V Karthikeyan passed the order while dismissing the appeal moved by the institution.
On January 10,1975, the then Tamil Nadu government issued a GO allotting 40 acres in Nanmangalam reserve forest in Sholinganallur taluk in Kancheepuram district to the trust, on condition that it should utilise the land only for educational purpose, on payment of ₹100 per acre. The land should be reverted back to the forest department, in case it could not be utilised for the specified purpose for which it was granted.
Subsequently, the trust sought de-reservation of the land which was classified as reserved forest, but as the Forest (Conservation) Act was brought in by the Centre, the trust was compelled to move the Supreme Court for such relief. On September 16, 2011, the apex court, without expressing any opinion, directed the state to consider the case by conducting proper inquiry. On September 25, 2012, the state issued a GO resuming 29.33 acres of the land allotted to the trust as it remained unused. Challenging the order, the trust moved the court which was dismissed by a single judge of the court on August 8, 2018. Aggrieved, the trust moved the present appeal.
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