TN govt: Have already taken possession of MRC premises

TN govt: Have already taken possession of MRC premises 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  20.09.2024 

Chennai : Tamil Nadu govt has told Madras high court that it took possession of the 160.8 acres leased out to Madras Race Club (MRC) on Sept 9 and sought to modify advocate-general P S Raman’s earlier submission that the state had issued only termination notice to the club and not taken possession of the land. The submissions were made on Thursday, when a civil suit moved by MRC challenging the termination of the lease came up for hearing. 

The club moved another application seeking time to hand over possession of the land to the govt. The club wanted the court to consider its application on an urgent basis since Sept 24 is the last date to hand over possession of the land. However, when the suit was taken up for hearing, senior advocate P Wilson representing the revenue department submitted that there was no urgency in the issue as the land had already been taken possession of by the govt. To this, senior advocate P H Arvind Pandian pointed out to the court a submission made by the AG before a division bench on a plea moved by the club challenging the action of the govt that the possession was yet to be taken. 

Recording the submission, Justice R M T Teekaa Raman wondered whether the revenue department is disputing the submission made by the AG, who is a constitutional authority. To this, additional advocate-general J Ravindran and Wilson informed the court that a modification petition had been filed before the division bench to modify the submission made by the AG, which is yet to be listed. Recording the submissions, Justice Teekaa Raman said: 

“You (govt) wanted to tie the hands of the division bench by AG’s submission and now you want the submission to be lifted.” The court then adjourned the hearing of the suit to Sept 23, for the department to file its counter.