Stay on registration of unapproved plots to continue till February 27

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sundar, before whom the batch of PILs by activists and petitions by property developers and individual land owners came up for hearing, posted the matter to February 27 after the State Advocate General R Muthukumaraswamy sought for more time. He said since the Chief Secretary was busy with several issues, more time is required for finalisation of the rules to check the menace of unapproved layouts. 

However, he assured the court that the process of framing rules was in the final stages. But when the bench granted the state’s request for adjournment, counsels appearing for realtors and land owners sought for relaxation of the ban at least with respect to buildings already constructed on unapproved layouts, the Judges rejected the same. 

The bench held that any relaxation offered now would result in the situation trickling down to square one. The bench also held that more time was being granted to the State to ensure that the legislation brought about should not be a piece meal exercise but ought to be a comprehensive and permanent one. 

The bench also sought the state government to consider the suggestions put forth by advocate and activist Elephant G Rajendran, whose PIL on indiscriminate conversions of agricultural lands into housing layouts led to this blanket ban. He had submitted that the authorities could work out a regularisation scheme wherein the government could charge about Rs 20 lakh per acre from developers who had used agricultural lands. He also noted in his plea that as of now there reportedly exists as many as 13.28 lakh unapproved housing plots working out to nearly 88,500 acres. 

He said by imposing a regularisation fee of Rs 20 lakh per acre, the government was bound to get Rs 17,600 crore, which could be used for the development of such unauthorised layouts. He also submitted that the government in the past has regularised unauthorised layouts seven times from 1999 to 2008. Hence, going on regularising without pinning them down for their illegal act would only offer a way out for more such unauthorised layout at the cost of valuable agriculture lands.

The Madras High Court dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to declare public holiday for Thai Poosam.

A plea moved by A Annadurai of Tirupur district had submitted that during Thai Poosam, which falls on February 10 this year, more than 60 lakh people throng the six holy abodes of Lord Muruga and hence ought to be declared a public holiday. However, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sundar sought to know whether he was aware of the number of public holidays in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. Reiterating its stand that it was for the government to take a decision on such issues, the bench said courts would not venture into areas. It also refused to direct the government to consider the plea in this regard.