HC dismisses plea to claim ownership of govt land in Chennai

CHENNAI: Justice N Sathish Kumar of the Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by the agri-horticultural society to claim right on the 6.30 acres of government land near the Semmozhi Poonga in Cathedral Road, Chennai.

The judge passed the direction on dismissing the plea filed by the society’s president Thottakkalai Krishnamurthy. The petitioner prayed to quash the notice issued by the land administration department to vacate the disputed land.

Senior Counsel P Wilson appearing for the advocate Bhuvanesh Kumar who was suo-motu impleaded as the third respondent by the Supreme Court submitted that during the AIADMK regime, several crores worth of land was given to the petitioner society by a former Chennai district collector who was not competent to decide on a title.

“The principal secretary to the Land Administration department of the state government rightly in the exercise of his suo-motu revision powers has stayed the collector’s order and issued show cause notice to the petitioner. The government has already taken vast land from the other side of cathedral road and developed Semmozhi Poonga and therefore the writ challenging show cause notice deserves to be dismissed and petitioner has no title over government properties,” Wilson argued.

Concurring with the submissions of senior counsel Wilson, the judge dismissed the plea by the society.