The survey of individual patta lands cannot be conducted under the Tamil Nadu Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923, as boundary disputes must be resolved by civil courts.

JUDGMENT

(Order of the Court was made by S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.)

Under assail is the writ order dated 01.04.2024 passed in W.P.No.3258 of 2024.

2. The writ petitioner is the appellant before this Court. A writ of Mandamus has been instituted to direct the second respondent to survey and issue patta jointly in the name of the petitioner and her sister S.Punitha, in respect of their house site comprised in Survey No.30/5, Old Survey No.56/1 of an extent of 1920 sq.ft. bearing Plot No.21 in Sri Venkateswara Nagar in Achcharampattu Village, Vanur Taluk, Villupuram District on the basis of petitioner's application dated 01.12.2023 within a time frame fixed by this Court. Since the learned Single Judge relegated the appellant to approach the competent civil Court of law for resolving the issues, the present intra-Court appeal came to be instituted.

3. Mr.S.Sathia Chandran, learned counsel appearing for the appellant would mainly contend that the learned Single Judge granted liberty to the appellant to approach civil Court under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Survey and Boundaries Act , 1923 [hereinafter referred to as Act 1923]. Under the said Act, the appellant has got every right to file an application seeking survey of his own land on payment of costs. Instead of granting the relief, the writ Court relegated the appellant to approach the civil Court, which is not in consonance with the spirit of the provisions under the Act 1923. Further it is contended that the rejection order passed by the Tahsildar has not been communicated to the appellant.

4. In reply, the learned Special Government Pleader would oppose by stating that the rejection order was uploaded on 16.02.2024 itself in the official website. It is for the appellant to download the copy of the rejection order. Therefore, the said objection is incorrect. The copy of the order of rejection, passed by the Tahsildar has been placed before this Court. The reasons stated in the order is that there are discrepancies in the schedule of the property. Since there are discrepancies in the schedule, the Authorities have rejected the application. Under those circumstances, the writ Court granted liberty to approach the competent civil Court of law.

5. This Court has considered the rival submissions made between the parties to the lis on hand.

6. Let us consider the scope and application of the Act 1923. Chapter II deals with “The survey of Government lands”. Chapter III deals with “The survey of estates”. Applications are filed by the private individuals to conduct survey of patta lands under Section 5 of Chapter II of the Act. When Chapter II deals with the survey to be conducted in respect of the Government lands, it would be relevant to consider the scope of Section 5 for conducting survey of patta lands or to resolve the boundary dispute between private individuals in respect of patta lands. Section 5 of the Act reads as under: 5. The State Government or subject to the control of the State Government any officer or authority to whom this power may be delegated by it may by notification order a survey of any Government land or of any boundary of such land or of the boundary forming the common limit of Government land and land that is not Government land.

7. Section 6 denotes notification to be published by Survey Officer.

Section 7 states that the Survey Officer has to carry out survey in prescribed manner. Section 8 is about the cost to be charged from the persons interested in the land survey. Section 9 provides power of the Survey Officer to determine and record un-disputed boundaries. Section 9 (1) indicates that the Survey Officer shall have power to determine and record undisputed boundary in respect of which no