The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 told the Madras High Court that it intends to upgrade the sprawling Semmozhi Poonga on Cathedral Road in Chennai into a world-class park, by annexing to it the recently-retrieved land from Agri-Horticultural Society.
The submission on the government’s plan to upgrade the park on par with the Royal Botanic Gardens in London or the Dubai Miracle Garden, was made before Justice S.M. Subramaniam during the hearing of a new writ petition filed by the private society claiming title over the land parcel measuring four cawnies (each cawny measuring 1.322 acres approximately), 18 grounds and 1,683 square feet.
The society had urged the court to quash Land Administration Commissioner’s June 5, 2023 order which set aside Chennai Collector’s 2011 order for grant of ‘patta’ (a revenue record to prove private land ownership) to the society with respect to the land parcel in question.
The judge reserved orders on the writ petition after hearing elaborate arguments advanced by senior counsel G. Rajagopalan for the society, Additional Advocate General (AAG) J. Ravindran for the State government and senior counsel P. Wilson for an intervenor who supported the government in retrieving the land from the private society and accused the latter of having exploited the property for commercial gains for decades together.
Though the society alleged political motives behind government interference in the property, the AAG stoutly denied any such motive and questioned the maintainability of the present writ petition.
The law officer said, the society had filed a writ petition in 2011 itself questioning the show cause notice issued by the Land Administration Commissioner seeking explanation as to why the Collector’s order in favour of the society should not be set aside.
That writ petition was dismissed by a single judge of the High Court in 2022 by granting liberty to the society to file its reply to the notice. “Then, the single judge had observed that even if the Commissioner passes an adverse order, the society would have to approach the civil court to establish its title. This finding of the single judge was confirmed by a Division Bench as well as the Supreme Court and therefore the present writ is not maintainable,” the AAG argued.
When Mr. Rajagopalan took exception to the submission and contended that it was just a casual remark and not a finding given by the court, the AAG said, there could not be casual remarks in judicial orders. The AAG also said, the society was wrong in arguing that the Land Administration Commissioner had no authority to suo motu review the Collector’s order and that the government ought to have approached the civil court to establish its title over the property.
“It is actually the society which has to go to the civil court, if it desired to do so. This writ petition is not maintainable at all,” he said. Mr. Wilson claimed that the valuable property belonging to the government was retrieved only because of the sustained efforts taken by his client since 2011 by intervening before the High Court as well as the Supreme Court. He sought permission to intervene in the present writ petition too and Justice Subramaniam acceded to his request.
