Land acquisition Collector gets summon for contempt of court

Justice N Kirubakaran passed the appearance order on a contempt plea moved by T N Ramasamy, Kilpauk, Chennai, seeking to punish the above officer for wilful disobedience of the order delivered on July 31, 2017, under which the Court re-determined the payment of compensation to him for the land acquired by the government for MRTS 30 years ago.

“Even after passing the order, issuing notice and sending reminder, the Collector, land acquisition, has not bothered either to reply to the notice or comply with the court order. Prima facie there is a violation of court’s order. The Government authorities are not sensitive to the court orders and this case is a classic example as to how the court orders are ignored and not complied with. Therefore, issue notice of appearance to the respondent returnable by March 5,” the judge said.

The matter relates to the acquirement of property of the petitioner to the extent of 487 sq. ft. who was running a hotel at Mylapore village in the year 1986. The possession was taken in 1993 by the Collector of Madras for alignment of Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS). A sum of Rs. 2.53 lakh was fixed as compensation. The petitioner approached the High Court for a higher compensation which was heard in detail by the court and on July 31, 2017, fixed the compensation at Rs.35.44 lakh.

The money should have been paid within 12 weeks from the receipt of the order. But the petitioner had not been paid despite possessing a court order in his favour.