2026:MHC:623 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED: 16-02-2026 CORAM THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE S. M. SUBRAMANIAM AND THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE C.KUMARAPPAN W.P.No.3912 of 2022 and W.M.P.No.4061 of 2022 S.Raghuraman ..Petitioner -vs-

1. The Secretary Highways Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu, Fort St.George, Chennai-600 009.

2. The District Collector Collectors Office, Thiruvallur District.

3. The Tahsildar Taluk Office Gummidipoondi, Thiruvallur District.

4. The Chief Engineer Construction and Maintenance Highways Department,HRS Campus, 76, Sardar Patel Road, Near Little Mount, Guindy, Chennai 600 025.

5. The Superintending Engineer Construction and Maintenance Highways Department, Anna Salai, Teynampet, Chennai-600 006.

6. The Divisional Engineer Construction and Maintenance, Highways Department, Near Oil Mill, Thiruvallur.

7. The Assistant Engineer Highways Department, Near E.B. Office, Gummidipoondi, Thiruvallur District.

8. Mrs. Vinothini ..Respondents Prayer: To direct the respondents 2nd and 3rd to complete scheme of bridge viably with service road after removing the encroachment by prevention of houses and shopping complex by the 8th respondent and his assignees in and under the scheme bridge affecting the service road For Petitioner: Mr.V.Narayanan For Respondents: Mr.T.Arun Kumar, AGP for R1 to 7 Mr.D.Dayanithi for R8 *****

O R D E R

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

Writ Petition has been instituted to direct the respondents 2 and 3 to complete the Railway Project after removal of encroachments.

2. Lands were acquired for Highways Projects, more specifically for construction of Railway Over Bridge. Since encroachments are identified, the Authorities are not able to implement the project.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that non construction of Railway Over Bridge is causing inconvenience to the public at large, resulting in hardship.

4. The Divisional Engineer, Highways filed a Status Report and details of encroachments along with Survey Numbers have been stated in Paragraph Nos.3 to 4, which read as under:

“3. It is humbly submitted that pursuant to the above Writ Petition a report has been called for from the Revenue officials and the 3^rd Respondent vide Na.Ka.283/2022/A1 dated 28.02.2022 regarding the encroachments in S.No.1218B/2 of No.51 Elavoor 2 Village, Gummidipoondi Taluk, Thiruvallur District. The Report of the 3^rd Respondents reveals that the Patta to the land S.No.1218B/2 of Elavoor 2 Village with extent of 0.13.0 Hectares classified as Punjai stood in the name of MR.N.Mahalingam (1804) and as per Section 10(1) Chitta extract, the patta to the land stood in the name of M/s.Tamilnadu Vincentian Charitation society. Subsequently the said S.No. was subdivided and reclassified in the Revenue Records as Government Land after Land Acquisition in the year 2011 for construction of Railway overbridge. The extract of the subdivision are as follows:

S.No. Extent (In Classification Patta details Hectares)

1218B/ 0.03.0 Punjai 1919, M/s.Tamilnadu 2A Vincentian Charitation society

1218B/ 0.07.0 Government National Highways 2B Poramboke (Land acquired for construction of Railway overbridge)

1218B/ 0.02.0 Punjai 1919, M/s.Tamilnadu 2C Vincentian Charitation society Total 0.13.0 The report further stated that, in the above S.No.1218B/2B with an extent of 0.07.0 hectates, an extent of 0.00.77 hectares (00077 Square Meters) has been encroached by way of a Concrete Building by the 8^th Respondent.

4. It is further submitted that a Memo No.73/2022/JA/Encroachment dated 28.02.2022 has been issued to the 8^th Respondent by the Assistant Divisional Engineer (H), C&M, Gummidipoondi directing the encroacher / 8^th Respondent to vacate the subject land within seven days from the date of receipt of the memo. However, in response, the 8^th Respondent gave an application claiming that they were not notified during the survey and requested a resurvey. Despite this, no further action has been taken by the 8^th Respondent