14 yrs on, Corpn reclaims 212-cr land from school

After fighting a legal battle for about 14 years, the Greater Chennai Corporation has retrieved its 5-acre land worth Rs 212.44 crore from a private educational institution in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, on Saturday.

“Of the 10 acres, the educational institution had encroached 5 acres to use as a school playground based on a court order issued without including us as a respondent,” an official said. But, the High Court set aside the order and issued a new order directing the Corporation retrieve the property.

“Following the judgment, we issued a notice to the school management a few days ago. But, when we went to reclaim the land on Saturday, school students opposed the drive and we tried explaining the matter to them. After the students vacated the ground, we started demolishing the compound wall,” the official said.

Similarly, in December 2018, the Chennai Corporation had retrieved 1.04-acre vacant land, which is worth Rs 94 crore from encroachers in Anna Nagar. The encroachers had used fake documents and the civic body was only able to reclaim the property based on a court order.

Now, to keep track of its properties, the civic body has decided to create a land database by collating documents to be obtained from the Revenue Department. “As of now, we do not have details of the exact number of properties owned by the Chennai Corporation. The databasewill help us keep track of it. We are also mapping our properties using the web-based GIS application,” a senior official said.