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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
R. SUBBIAH, P.D. AUDIKESAVALU, JJ.
Smt. Shabeen Zainab – Petitioner
Versus
The District Collector (Chairman, District Committee) Nilgiris – Respondent
Writ Petition No. 26062 of 2017 and W.M.P. Nos. 27674 to 27676 of 2017
Decided On : 08-06-2018
Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act - Petitioner, she is the owner of the land which she purchased by way of a registered sale deed registered as document - According to the petitioner, inspite of all the above publications effected declaring the lands which forms part of the Elephant Corridor, the respondent has formed a special team to re-survey the lands in the Elephant Corridor without any valid reasons – Challenged – Held, It is evident that as per Section 3 of The Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act, the respondent is empowered to confer permission in favour of an individual land owner to sell, alienate or mortgage the lands which falls within a private forest. When such a power is conferred on the respondent, for violation of any of the conditions incorporated therein, the respondent is equally empowered to rescind, revoke, amend or vary the order granted in favour of the land owner. In this context, reference can be made to Section 15 of The Tamil Nadu General Clauses Act, 1891 - Where an Act confers a power to make any rules or by-laws, or to issue notifications or orders, the power shall be construed as including a power exercisable in the like manner and subject to the like consent and conditions, if any, to rescind, revoke, amend or vary the rules, by-laws, notifications or orders- Thus, the powers conferred on the respondent under Section 3 of The Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act includes the powers to rescind, revoke or vary the earlier order passed by him, as indicated in Section 15 of The Tamil Nadu General Clauses Act, 1891. In other words, the powers conferred on the respondent under Section 3 of The Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act to grant No Objection Certificate to the petitioner to alienate the land belonged to her will certainly empower the respondent to cancel such order for reasons to be recorded by the respondent. Therefore, it is futile on the part of the petitioner to contend that the order passed by the respondent in exercise of power under 3 of The Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act is without authority of law and the said contention is liable only to be rejected – Petition dismissed
1. The petitioner has come up with this writ petition praying to quash the order dated 24.02.2017 of the respondent whereby and whereunder the respondent refused to accord permission to the petitioner to sell the land owned and possessed by her in Survey No. 144/6 measuring 0.39 acres in Sholur Village, Udagamandalam Taluk, Nilgiris District.
2. According to the petitioner, she is the owner of the land comprised in Survey No. 144/6 (corresponding to Old Survey No. 328/1A) measuring an extent of 0.15.80 hectares (0.39 acres) in Sholur Village, Udagamandalam Taluk, Nilgiris District, which she purchased by way of a registered sale deed dated 17.07.1996 registered as document No. 519 of 1996 on the file of Sub-Registrar, Udhagamandalam. After such purchase, the petitioner has mutated the revenue records and obtained Patta No. 552 in her name. After sub-division, the land owned by the petitioner was sub-divided and Survey No. 328/1A3 (corresponding to Survey No. 328/1A) was assigned. The land was further sub-divided and the present Survey No. 144/6 was assigned for the land owned by the petitioner. It is the contention of the petitioner that she is in possession and enjoyment of the land mentioned above from the date of it's purchase on 17.07.1996. It is further stated that apart from the purchase of the land in Survey No. 144/6 (corresponding to Old Survey No. 328/1A or 328/1A3) measuring 0.39 acres out of 4.61 acres, the husband of the petitioner has also purchased certain lands in the very same locality. In essence, three pieces of lands were purchased by the petitioner and her husband by means of registered sale deeds and they are (i) land in Survey No. 328/1A1 measuring 1.42 acres in favour of the husband of the petitioner (ii) land in Survey No. 328/1A2 measuring 2.80 acres in favour of the husband of the petitioner and (iii) land in Survey No. 328/1A3 measuring 0.39 acres in favour of the petitioner. According to the petitioner, subsequently, the land belonging to her husband in Survey No. 328/1A1 and 328/1A2 got merged as they are owned by one and the same person and new Survey No. 144/7 was assigned for which Patta was also issued in favour of her husband bearing Patta No. 1374. As far as the petitioner is concerned, as mentioned above, for the land owned by her in Survey No. 328/1A3, corresponding to new Survey No. 144/6, Patta No. 1373 was issued to her. To fortify these re-allotment of survey numbers, the petitioner relies on the proceedings dated 24.02.1997 of the Tahsildar, Udhagamandalam.
3. According to the petitioner, while facts are so as stated above, as per the order passed by the Division Bench of this Court in WP No. 10098 of 2008 etc., batch cases, the Government resorted to identify certain lands for setting up 'Elephant Corridor' in Sholur Panchayat as well as in the surrounding Nilgiris District. For this purpose, a committee was appointed to identify the lands for setting up Elephant Corridor and the Committee also submitted a report on 04.11.2009. The report of the Committee clearly spells out the details of Patta lands, Survey Number, Corresponding Survey Number before sub-division, name of the Village where the land is located etc., The report of the expert committee has also been acted upon and given effect to and the Elephant Corridor was duly constituted. While so, as against the order dated 03.12.2009 in WP No. 10098 of 2008 etc., batch cases, Civil Appeal in C.C. No. 6342 to 6348 of 2010 were filed before the Honourable Supreme Court, but the Honourable Supreme Court refused to interfere with the order passed by the Division Bench of this Court. Thereafter, the Government issued G.O. Ms. No. 125, Environment and Forest Department dated 31.08.2010 accepting the report of the Expert Committee, which was constituted to identify the lands for setting up Elephant Corridor. According to the petitioner, the report of the Expert Committee did not indicate the land owned by the petitioner in Survey N
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