The State government on Monday told the Madras High Court that it was willing to grant time till September 15 for farmers to harvest the standing crops they had raised on lands acquired by the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) over a decade ago for its expansion activities, and that the farmers, in turn, should agree to hand over the lands after the moratorium period without creating trouble.
The NLC, on its part, assured the court that it was willing to pay compensation for the standing crops that were cleared using earthmovers for the diversion of the Upper Paravanar canal in Valayamadevi near Chidambaram in order to prevent the flooding of the mines and adjacent lands during the monsoon. It said the compensation would be deposited with the Cuddalore Collector.
The submissions were made before Justice S.M. Subramaniam, who granted a lunch motion to hear an urgent writ petition moved by one of the affected farmers, V. Murugan of Valayamadevi Melpathi village. Petitioner’s counsel K. Balu urged the court to restrain NLC from disturbing the standing crops until harvest, and also return the acquired lands to the farmers since they had not been used for the intended purpose even after 16 years.
However, Additional Advocate-General (AAG) J. Ravindran told the court that there was no question of returning the lands to the farmers since they were required for power generation by NLC. He said the State government had been suffering a loss of around ₹320 crore a month since September 2022 due to a shortage of electricity generation by NLC because of the unavailability of sufficient lignite from the existing mines.
He recalled that the State government had acquired large tracts of land in 2007 for the expansion of NLC on payment of compensation over and above the guideline value, and that those lands were taken possession of in December 2012. Yet, the farmers continued cultivating crops there, and hence, they could, at best, be categorised only as ‘trespassers’ and nothing more, the AAG argued.
The law officer accused the PMK of “playing politics” with the issue by instigating the farmers, who were otherwise willing to hand over the lands peacefully. At this point, Mr. Balu joined issue with the AAG by asking: “Is that why you deployed 2,000 police officers to take possession of the fertile lands?”
Stating that the government knew how to protect the farmers, the AAG asked the court to prevent the politicisation of the issue.
To this, Justice Subramaniam said: “We cannot prevent any party from playing politics. It is their right to do politics and it is the duty of the State government to maintain law and order.”
When Mr. Balu said he did not want to talk politics in the court but stick to the facts of his case, the judge said: “There is nothing wrong in it. Politics is intertwined in our lives. We cannot avoid it. It is part and parcel of the society we live in.”
The judge also told Additional Solicitor-General AR.L. Sundaresan that the current conundrum involving farmers and standing crops could have been avoided had NLC India Limited safeguarded its properties after acquisition. When the ASG said it was not possible to fence large tracts of lands spread over 264 hectares, the judge said that at least some vigil ought to have been kept, like how the Forest Department safeguards forests.
Further, stating that there was a need to strike a balance between the interests of NLC and the farmers who had raised crops, he asked the ASG and the AAG to put their submissions in writing by Wednesday. He asked Mr. Balu, too, to ensure that the farmers’ representatives also file an affidavit in court agreeing to vacate the acquired lands after harvesting the standing crops, and hand them over to NLC peacefully.
When the petitioner’s counsel said the deadline of September 15 was too short a period to complete harvesting, the judge said the final moratorium period could be fixed after obtaining the views of the Agriculture Department.
