The judgment clarified that eviction under the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act cannot be invoked if the land is not vested in the Government and emphasized adherence to natural justice.

ORDER

(By R.Subramanian,J.)

The challenge is to the notice issued under Section 7 of the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act,1905, and the order passed under Section 6 of the said Act. The land in question is classified as Ryotwari Punjai and it is a patta land that stands in the name of the petitioner in the writ petition.

2. It is the contention of the authorities that they can invoke power under the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act,1905, since it is shown that there is a pathway on ground in the land.

3. The Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act,1905, enacted in

1905, vests certain lands in the Government. Section 2 of the said Act, which provides for such vesting, reads as follows :

''2.Right of property in public roads, etc., waters and lands.

(1) All public roads, streets, lanes and paths, the bridges, ditches, dikes and fences, on or beside the same, the bed of the sea and of harbours and creeks below high water mark, and of rivers, streams, nalas, lakes and tanks, and [all back waters, canals and watercourses] and all standing and flowing water, and all lands, wherever situated, save in so far as the same are the property- (a) of any zamindar, poligar, mittadar, shrotriemdar or inamdar or any person claiming through or holding under any of them, or (b) of any person paying Kist, kattubadi, jodi, poruppu or quit-

rent to any of the aforesaid persons, or (c) of any person holding under ryotwari tenure [including that of a janmi in the Gudalur taluk of the Nilgiris district] [and in the transferred territory] or in any way subject to the payment of land-

revenue direct to Government, or (d) of any other registered holder of land in proprietary right, or (e) of any other person holding land under grant from [the Government] otherwise than by way of licence, and, as to lands, save also in so far as they are temple site or owned as house-site or back yard, are and are hereby declared to be [the property of Government] except as may be otherwise provided by any law for the time being in force, subject always to all rights of way and other public rights and to the natural and easement rights of other land-owners, and to all customary rights legally subsisting.

(2) All public roads and streets vested in any local authority shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be [the property of Government]''

4. Therefore, it is clear that the patta land in which the pathway or cart track is shown to be running as on ground, does not vest in the Government to enable the Government to take action under Section 6 of 7 of the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act,1905. It will be open to the persons, who have a right over the cart track, to seek appropriate relief before the Civil Court concerned to establish their right of pathway. The Government cannot invoke the provisions of the Act to evict such encroachment or obstruction.

5. It is claimed by the learned Government Pleader that huge amount has been sanctioned for laying channel across the lands and the officers wanted to measure the lands, which was prevented by the land owners.

6. Section 12 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act,2013, empowers the officers to survey the land and if there is any obstruction during such survey, the officers can always seek the assistance of law enforcing agency. Eviction notice under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act,1905, is not a method, by which the survey under could be undertaken.

7. An attempt has been made by the learned Government Pleader to rely upon Clause 15 of Standing Order 26 of the Board of Revenue. The Standing Orders of the Board of Revenue will have force of a legislation. Once the land does not vest in the Government, the power to remove encroachment cannot be exercised. The scope of Clause 15 of Standing Order 26 is completely different. The purpose of eviction is not for providing an access to the people. It is for a completely different purpose to lay a c