‘Don’t bring inter-department disputes to court'

A division bench comprising Justice KK Sasidharan and Justice P Velmurugan before whom a writ appeal from the Kelambakkam panchayat president to set-aside the order of single judge on August 8, 2016, came up said, “Even though time and again the government has made it clear that dispute between two departments must be settled by the government rather than taking up the issue to the courts for adjudication, the fact remains that the courts are flooded with such intra-departmental, inter-departmental and panchayat litigations.” 

In 2015, the Pudupakkam village panchayat filed a writ petition seeking direction to the Kancheepuram Collector to inspect with revenue records and resolve territorial ownership dispute between that panchayat and Kelambakkam. 

The petition was allowed by a single judge. However, the division bench on observing that the issue between Kelambakkam and Pudupakkam pertains to local jurisdiction and the right to claim development fee from the builder, said, “The issue would better be decided by the Collector, having jurisdiction in respect of both the panchayats. In fact, we are informed that the very same Block Development Officer, Tiruporur, is the Executive Authority for Pudupakkam and Kelambakkam, as on today.” 

Posting the matter for further hearing to June 11, 2018, the bench directed the Kancheepuram Collector to conduct a field inspection on jurisdiction and file a report before the court.