A revision under Section 80-A of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act cannot be entertained against a de-occupation notice following a locking & sealing order.

ORDER :

S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.

For the reasons stated in the affidavit, W.M.P.No.8605 of 2025 stands ordered and the proposed party/Mr.D.Prithivee is impleaded as the fifth respondent in the writ petition.

2. The show cause notice dated 09.02.2024 issued by the Greater Chennai Corporation is under challenge in the present writ proceedings. It is not in dispute that locking & sealing notice was issued in proceeding dated 30.05.2022. The writ petitioner preferred a revision under Section 80 -A of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act. The Government elaborately adjudicated the issues and rejected the revision petition vide letter dated 16.02.2023. The Government, while dismissing the revision petition under Section 80 -A of the Act, directed the Greater Chennai Corporation to pursue further enforcement action in respect of the petitioner's building as per the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act. The Chennai Corporation was directed to monitor and to pursue necessary further action on the objector's building if any construction work is undertaken without proper approval.

3. Challenging the revisional order of the Government, the petitioner filed W.P.No.6880 of 2023. This Court vide order dated 24.08.2023 disposed of the writ petition by issuing a direction to the respondents to take further action as per law. Accordingly, de-occupation notice was issued in proceeding dated 09.02.2024. The said de-occupation notice was again taken by way of a revision under Section 80 -A of the Act and the Government once again considered the very same issues and rejected the revision petition vide letter dated 29.07.2024. The Government once again reiterated that all further enforcement action is to be taken by the Greater Chennai Corporation.

4. Question arises whether such a revision petition would be entertainable under Section 80 -A of the Act challenging the de-occupation notice? Sub-section (1) of Section 80 -A enumerates that “Notwithstanding anything contained in section 80, the Government may, on application, call for and examine the records of the appropriate planning authority in respect of sealing of the premises under sub-section (2-A) of section 56 or under sub-section (4) of section 57 and if, in any case, it appears to the Government that any such action or decision should be modified, annulled, reversed or remitted for reconsideration, they may pass orders accordingly.” Therefore, a revision under Section 80 -A would lie only against an order of locking & sealing. However, there is no second revision, which is entertainable under Section 80 -A with reference to the further de-occupation notice issued based on the final order passed by the Government under Section 80 -A of the Act. In other words, two revision petitions are not entertainable in respect of the enforcement action taken in a single case.

5. Be that as it may, the petitioner has protracted the proceedings one way or other and made an attempt to escape from the clutches of enforcement actions already initiated by the Greater Chennai Corporation. Revision after revision, writ petition after writ petition have been instituted to increase the longevity of the enforcement actions, which cannot be encouraged by the Courts. It amounts to abuse of the judicial process. Once the issues are decided on merits, making an attempt to reopen the issues in a different form at no circumstances be appreciated, but to be deprecated. Therefore, the present writ petition is to be treated as a vexatious litigation. The issues have already been decided both by the Government as well as by this Court in various proceedings. The learned Standing Counsel for the Greater Chennai Corporation would submit that further actions will be continued and the a