The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed Coimbatore Collector to evict Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) from 4,420 square feet of government land on which it had been operating a fuel station, right opposite to the district court complex in Coimbatore city, despite the expiry of the lease way back in 1970.
Justice S.M. Subramaniam ordered that the eviction proceedings must be completed within one month and that appropriate action must also be initiated to recover the rental arrears running to several lakh rupees. The orders were passed while disposing of IOCL’s 2021 writ petition for re-determination of lease rent for the property.
However, on going through the records, the judge found that the Coimbatore Collector had leased out the land to IOCL on January 3, 1966 for a period of five years and the lease period had expired on December 31, 1970. The lease was not extended thereafer and yet a retail fuel outlet continued to function over there till date.
Further, IOCL had been operating the fuel outlet through its dealer K.R. Service Station, a partnership firm, at the prime locality in Coimbatore city and not directly. Though the lease was not renewed since 1970, the revenue officials continued to revise and demand lease rent periodically and that too was objected to by the oil major.
Pointing out that IOCL was a commercial entity making huge profits, the judge said, yet, it had been in unlawful occupation of a government property for over five decades. Since its dealer too had been making money, the judge said that the corporation could not evade payment of lease rent to the Government of Tamil Nadu.
