The Court dismissed a writ petition seeking return of unutilized land acquired in 1994. The Court held that the government remains within its powers to utilize acquired land for public purposes and the owner has no right to claim reconveyance 29 years after acquisition.
Writ petition dismissed with no order as to costs.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
W.P.No.4209 of 2019
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 08.01.2024
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM
W.P. No.4209 of 2019
and
W.M.P. No.4729 of 2019
Vs.
1.The State of Tamil Nadu represented by its Secretary, Industries Department, St. Fort George, Chennai-600 009.
Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to consider and pass orders on the representation dated 14.11.2018 and reminder dated 24.01.2019 seeking return of the unutilized lands to an extent of 3.32 acres in R.S. No.263/1B, Perundurai Village, Erode District pursuant to the de-
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W.P.No.4209 of 2019
notification of lands by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry vide its
Notification dated 26.12.2018.
For Petitioner : Mrs. N.R. Jasmine Padma For Respondents : Mr. G. Krishna Raja, Additional Government Pleader [for R1]
Mr. Sundarsana Sundar [for R2]
ORDER
The land belonged to the petitioners were acquired in the year 1994.
It was acquired for the purpose of developing Special Economic Zones.
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W.P.No.4209 of 2019
acquired in the year 1994 and it is only a denotification of a portion of the land from Special Economic Zone. The respondents are well within their powers to utilize the acquired land for any other public purpose and the erstwhile owner cannot claim reconveyance of the land as a right. The lands were acquired 29 years back cannot be returned to the petitioner, through the present Writ petition.
Connected miscellaneous petition is closed.
08.01.2024
Index : yes/no Speaking order/Non-speaking order Neutral Citation : yes/no mjs
To
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W.P.No.4209 of 2019
S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.
mjs
W.P.No.4209 of 2019
08.01.2024
Page 4 of 4
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the erstwhile owner can claim reconveyance of land acquired 29 years ago following a subsequent denotification for Special Economic Zone.
Whether the Government is barred from utilizing acquired land for other public purposes due to an uncertainty or denotification.
K.K. Palanisamy and others
The State of Tamil Nadu
S.M. Subramaniam
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
