Court established a procedure for addressing encroachments on public land through the Divisional Monitoring Committee, preserving rights of alleged encroachers and ensuring proper investigation.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED : 21.07.2025 CORAM:

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE M.SUNDAR and THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT CHANDANGOUDAR W.P. No.26240 of 2025 Sekar Petitioner vs.

1. The District Collector Collector Office, Ranipet District

2. The Revenue Divisional Officer Revenue Divisional Office Walajah Taluk Ranipet District

3. The Commissioner Walajah Municipality Ranipet District

4. Vijayaraghavan

5. Muniyan

6. Shankar Rao Respondents Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents 1 to 3 to remove the encroachments put up by the respondents 4 to 6 in 'Sarkar Poramboke” land comprised in Old S.No.1651 and new T.S.Nos.1651/1, 2 and 3, Jagamma Reddy Street, Walajah Town, Ward No.2, Block No.24, Walajah Taluk, Ranipet District, by considering the petitioner's representation dated 10.05.2025.

For petitioner Mr. C. Harish For RR 1 & 2 Mr. T.K. Saravanan Addl. Govt. Pleader For R3 Dr. T. Seenivasan Special Government Pleader

ORDER

[made by M.SUNDAR, J.]

This order will now dispose of the captioned 'writ petition' ['WP'

for the sake of brevity].

2. Mr. C. Harish, learned counsel on record for writ petitioner, is before us.

3. Adverting to a representation dated 10.05.2025 from the writ petitioner, learned counsel for writ petitioner submitted that there are alleged encroachments in 'Old Survey No.1651 (New T.S.Nos.1651/1,2 and 3), Jagamma Reddy Street, Walajah Town, Ward No.2, Block No.24, Walajah Taluk, Ranipet District' [hereinafter 'said land' for the sake of convenience and clarity] by RR 4 to 6. To be noted, RR 4 to 6 are private respondents.

4. At the outset, for the purposes of clarity and specificity, this Court deems it appropriate to record that the captioned WP which has been filed with a Removal of Encroachment prayer pertains to said land but in the representation dated 10.05.2025, said land has been wrongly described as T.S.No.1657. Learned counsel on record for writ petitioner regrets the error in the representation and submits that it will suffice if this order is restricted to said land.

5. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case in juxtaposition with G.O.(Ms)No.64, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Land Disposal Wing, dated 08.02.2022 [hereinafter 'said GO' for the sake of convenience] which puts in place a Removal of Encroachment procedure inter alia giving opportunity to alleged encroachers, we are of the view that the captioned WP can be disposed of by ordering notice to official respondents (RR 1 to 3) and putting in a safety valve / adequate protection qua alleged encroachers i.e. RR 4 to 6.

6. Issue notice to official respondents, i.e. RR 1 to 3.

7. Mr. T.K. Saravanan, learned Additional Government Pleader, accepts notice for RR 1 and 2 and Dr. T. Seenivasan, learned Special Government Pleader, accepts notice for R3.

8. In the light of what has been alluded to supra and considering the limited scope of the captioned WP, with the consent of both sides, captioned WP was taken up in the Admission Board, i.e., Motion List.

9. It was submitted by learned State counsel that said GO has been put in place, wherein and whereby Divisional Monitoring Committee, District Monitoring Committee and State Steering Committee have been constituted inter alia for a single point reporting / monitoring system qua Government lands.

10. In the light of the narrative thus far, we deem it appropriate to refer the matter to the Divisional Monitoring Committee headed by the second respondent qua said GO.

11. We direct the jurisdictional Divisional Monitoring Committee to examine if there is encroachment qua said land.

12. The Di