For the purpose of providing house sites to the members of Arunthathiar community, the revenue authorities initiated proceedings under the Harijan Welfare Act for acquiring lands admeasuring to an extent of 1.00 acre in S.No.78/8, Mallikundam Village, Mettur Taluk and admeasuring to an extent 50 cents in S.No.78/8, 10 cents in S.No.78/10 and 32 cents in S.No.333/3B in Mallikundam Village, Mettur Taluk, respectively. Insofar as the petitioner in W.P.No.8144 of 2003 is concerned, he is having 1.00 acre in S.No.78/8, Mallikundam Village, Mettur Taluk and insofar as the petitioner in W.P.No.8807 of 2003, he is having 50 cents in S.No.78/8, 10 cents in S.No.78/10 and 32 cents in S.No.333/3B in Mallikundam Village, Mettur Taluk, Salem District. A Notice dated 3.10.2001 in Form No.I of Rule 3(1) of the Rules was served by the Special Tahsildar on Thangammal and Kandasamy (petitioners 1 and 2 in W.P.No.8807 of 20103) fixing the date of enquiry as 23.10.2001 at 11.00 a.m. in the office of the Village Administrative Officer, Mallikundam Village, Mettur Taluk. The said Thangammal and Kandasamy did not personally appear for the enquiry on 23.10.2001, but, whereas, they had sent their objections through registered post to the Special Tahsildar. In their objections, they had stated that the property has been partitioned among their family members and that each one of them is holding a very small piece of land and therefore, they had requested the authorities to drop the acquisition proceedings. At this juncture, it may be necessary to state that Thangammal had sold 1 acre and 20 cents (0.60.0 Hectares) of land in Survey No.78/8 to one C.Krishnan (petitioner in W.P.No.8144 of 2003) by a sale deed dated 9.11.1987 registered as document No.844/1987 on the file of the Sub Registrar, Mecheri, Mettur Taluk. However, since the purchaser C.Krishnan did not take any steps for mutation of revenue records, his name was not included in the revenue records and therefore, the enquiry notice was not served on him, but was served only on the original owner viz., Thangammal. The Special Tahsildar, considered the objections raised by Thangammal and Kandasamy and their son Palanisamy and sent a report / recommendation dated 24.12.2001 to the District Collector, rejecting the said objections. The District Collector, by order dated 15.7.2002, accepted the report / recommendation of the Special Tahsildar and directed the publication of notification under Section 4(1) of the Harijan Welfare Act in the District Gazette, Salem. The said notification was published in the District Gazettee on 17.7.2002, challenging which, writ petitions have been filed.
