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‘Evict encroachers from govt poramboke land, water bodies’: HC to Nilgiris Collector

The Madras High Court directed the Nilgiris Collector on January 11 to evict encroachers from public land, bus stands and water bodies in the district. Justice SM Subramaniam disposed of a batch of writ petitions that were filed 14 years ago against eviction notices issued by revenue officials.

In his order, Justice Subramaniam observed that encroachment is a social evil and infringes on the rights of all other citizens. He had also stated that if encroachments are allowed in sensitive areas like bus stands, it would not only cause a nuisance to the public in general, but it will hamper the further developments of the Bus stand as well as the public roads.

He directed District Collector to conduct a review meeting with the concerned officials of all the Departments to identify all the encroachments in water bodies, water resources and government poramboke lands in the Nilgiris District within his jurisdiction within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of the order.

“Coonoor and Udhagamandalam are Tourists attraction places, wherein large number of Tourists are visiting the place. Providing adequate infrastructure Road facilities, Bus stand are the constitutional mandate of the State. In the event of allowing encroachments in such sensitive areas like Bus stand and main roads, mainly in hilly areas, it is very difficult for the commuters to use the road peacefully and the traffic in flow also would be affected,” the order stated.

Justice Subramaniam also stated that the litigants were adopting tactics to delay and continued to encroach on government land for a number of years, thereby causing nuisance and inconvenience to the people at large.

“Few greedy men are encroaching upon the public properties for their personal gains and unlawful enrichment. Such greedy men are to be dealt in accordance with law. The authorities competent must be cautious, while initiating all such eviction proceedings and they should ensure that the procedures are followed properly,” he stated.

The judge directed the Collector to survey the land in question and evict all encroachers under the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act of 2007.

The judge further observed that poor landless persons can submit an application for the purpose of grant of free house sites under government schemes.

The court also said that in the event of any failure, negligence or dereliction of duty on the part of the officials concerned, then the District Collector has to initiate appropriate prosecution and departmental disciplinary proceedings. He then posted matter for February 25 for compliance. 

Source: The News Minute