Grama Natham lands assigned under the Natham scheme remain with the occupant despite allegations of commercial use unless large-scale exploitation is established.

JUDGMENT :

R. SUBRAMANIAN, J.

1. Aggrieved by the order of the Writ Court dated 25.03.2021 made in W.P.No.10456 of 2018, the State is on appeal. The said Writ Petition was filed seeking a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to quash the order dated 10.04.2018 passed by the District Revenue Officer, Tiruvannamalai, cancelling the assignment Patta for the land situate in New Survey No.259/1 of Kalasapakkam Village on the ground that there is a violation of the assignment condition. The Writ Petition was filed by one K.Siva Shanmugam, who died pending the Writ Petition, his wife and two children were impleaded as legal representatives and were ranked as petitioners 2 to 4 in the Writ Petition.

2. The facts that led to filing of the Writ Petition are as follows:-

The deceased/petitioner had occupied an extent of 2 cents of land classified as Grama Natham in Survey No.195/1A/1A at Kalasapakkam Village and the same has been in possession and occupation of his family from the year 1956. Recognising his occupation, the said 2 cents of land was assigned to him and he has put up construction and has been in continuous possession as Pattadhar from 1968 without any interruption. While things stood thus, summons were served by the 3rd respondent on the petitioner, requiring the petitioner to appear before him on 21.02.2017 for an enquiry relating to the cancellation of the Patta that was issued to the petitioner.

2.1. The petitioner appeared in person on 21.02.2017. Even without passing any order regarding cancellation of Patta, the Highways Department arbitrarily demolished the construction put up by the petitioner in the said land on 15.05.2017. On 16.05.2017, he was served with an order dated 30.03.2017 informing him of the cancellation of the Patta. The petitioner preferred an appeal to the District Revenue Officer, Tiruvannamalai, the 2^nd appellant herein challenging the order dated 30.03.2017. The said appeal came to be dismissed on 10.04.2018. In the meanwhile, the petitioner has also filed a Writ Petition in W.P.No.2954 of 2018 seeking a direction to the 2nd respondent to dispose of the appeal. The said Writ Petition came to be allowed by this Court on 12.02.2018. The rejection of the appeal dated 10.04.2018 was made subject matter of challenge in the instant Writ Petition namely, W.P.No.10456 of 2018.

3. It is the contention of the petitioner in the Writ Petition that the cancellation order was passed without assigning any reason. Once there is an assignment of the land to the petitioner in the year 1968 and the petitioner has been in possession of the land nearly six decades, the cancellation without assigning reasons is invalid. The Writ Court concluded that the Writ Petition ought to be allowed solely on the ground of violation of principles and natural justice. The assignment Patta was granted in the year 1968 and the land was also classified as Grama Natham. The learned Judge also held that the Grama Natham land does not vest with the Government. The learned Judge therefore, concluded that the Writ Petition is bound to be allowed on two grounds namely, i) Grama Natham land does not vest in the Government and the Government has no paramount title over the same. Therefore, cancellation of assignment is invalid.ii) Priciples of natural justice have not been followed and the petitioner was not made aware of the grounds on which the assignment was sought to be cancelled.

Aggrieved, this appeal is at the instance of the State /respondents