Revenue authorities cannot adjudicate on matters of title and possession, which are reserved for civil courts, and must respect prior civil court findings.

ORDER :

The petitioner challenges the order passed by the 3^rd respondent in Pa.Mu.No.4402/2010/A3 dated 27.11.2023 and 2^nd respondent in Ne.Mu.No.Ji2/1612490/2023 dated 07.01.2025 and consequently seeks mutation of the revenue records in favour of the petitioner in survey No. 146/10A, 146/10B of Kavandanpatti Village, Usilampatti Taluk, Madurai District.

2. I have heard Mr.Sricharan Rangarajan, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner, Mr.S.Kameswaran, learned Government Advocate for the respondents 1 to 5 and Mr.K.Surenderan, learned counsel for the sixth respondent.

3. Mr.Sricharan Rangarajan, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner would invite my attention to the various documents filed in support of the writ petition by way of typed set of papers, drawing specific reference to the suit filed in O.S.No.220 of 1978 on the file of the District Munsif Court, Thirumangalam, being a suit for bare permanent injunction filed by one, Junior Veerana Thevar against Veerakkal and Raman (the sixth respondent herein). He would contend that the suit properties according to the plaintiff, viz., Junior Veerana Thevar were joint family properties and one of the brothers, by name, Andi Thevar, who is the father of the petitioner, converted to Christianity and subsequently, he died in the year 1972, leaving behind Junior Veerana Thevar, as the sole surviving member of the joint family entitled to the subject properties. Mayakkal, who is the mother of the petitioner, was permitted by Junior Veerana Thevar to reside in a portion of the suit property purely out of sympathy and compassion. The said suit was resisted by the defendants including the sixth respondent herein, contending that the legal heirs of Andi Thevar were also entitled the share in the suit property and the suit was liable to be dismissed, on the ground of non-joinder of necessary parties. Ultimately, the District Munsif Court, Thirumangalam, after framing an issue regarding non-joinder, though finding that Junior Veerana Thevar was not in possession of 55 cents of land and that Mayakkal and her children, viz., Asirvatham (the petitioner), Vijayarani (wife of sixth respondent), were alone in possession, proceeded to dismiss the suit on the ground of non-joinder of proper and necessary party. The learned Senior Counsel would further contend that though Junior Veerana Thevar preferred First Appeal in A.S.No.154 of 1979, before the Principal Sub Court, Madurai, by the judgment and decree dated 24.11.1980, the appeal was dismissed, thereby confirming the decree of the trial Court.

4. Mr.Sricharan Rangarajan, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner, would further contend that without respecting the findings of the civil Court and going back on their own admitted case that the property is a joint property, the private respondent/sixth respondent colluded with Junior Veerana Thevar and entered into a partition deed between themselves, excluding the petitioner's mother Mayakkal and depriving the petitioner of his lawful entitlement of the property. Subsequently, the legal heirs of Junior Andi Thevar filed a suit in O.S.No. 63 of 1997 before the District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate, Usilampatti, to declare the lease agreements concerning 55 cents in survey No.146/10 as null and void and for consequential relief of possession. The petitioner herein was one of the plaintiffs in the said suit. Ultimately, the suit came to be decreed on 19.12.1997. Subsequently, the decree was also complied with by release of property measuring 55 cents in survey No.146/10, which is evidenced by a receipt executed between the petitioner and the leasees on 27.11.2000. Thereafter, the petitioner has approached the Tahsildar, viz., the fourth respondent herein, staking a claim for patta in the name of the legal heirs of Late.Junior Andi Thevar, emphasising the fact that the patta was also standing in the name of Junior Veerana Thevar, the father of Junior Andi Thevar. The fourth respondent, considering the