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Judgment
K. Chandru, J.—The Petitioner claiming to be a resident of Semmancherry village near Chennai has filed the present writ petition, seeking for a direction to forbear the respondents from converting the cart track or handingover the same to the second Respondent Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (for short Metro Water)or changing the character or classification of the carttrack more particularly described in the schedule appended to the writ petition. In the schedule appended to the writ petition, the property was described as follows:-
All that piece and parcel of land which is classified as ''cart track'' as per the revenue records measuring an extent of 0.16 hectares in Survey No.67 of Semmancherry Village, Tambaram Taluk, Kancheepuram District, within the Sub- Registration District of Neelankarai, Chennai.
When the writ petition came up on 12.04.2010,this Court while directing the Government Advocate to take notice granted interim injunction for a limited period. The said interim injunction came to be extended until further orders by a subsequent order dated09.06.2010.
There after the Petitioner impleaded the Secretary to Government, Revenue Department as party 4th respondent by filing M.P. No. 2 of 2010.
On notice from this Court, the first respondent District Collector, Kancheepuram filed acounter affidavit dated 30.06.2010 indicating that the State Government by issuance of their order in G.O. Ms. No. 219 Revenue Department dated 12.05.2010 had approved the proposal of the Metro Water and an area of 0.04.0 hectares were alienated to the second Respondent for setting up of Sewerage Pumping Station/Sewerage Treatment Plants.
The Petitioner filed M.P. Nos. 1 and 2 of 2011for amending the prayer made in the writ petition as well as permission to raise additional grounds. In the amended prayer, the Petitioner seeks to set aside the Government order in G.O. Ms. No. 219, Revenue Department, dated 12.05.2010 and to forbear the Respondents from interfering with the Petitioner''s right to use the subject land set out in the schedule appended to the writ petition.
In the grounds raised, the Petitioner contended that the impugned order of the Government was passed without following the procedure u/s 125(2) of the Tamil Nadu Pantheist Act, 1994; the subject land do not vest with the Government and they are not the owners of the land. The definition of the term ''Public Road'' as found in the Tamil Nadu Pantheist Act includes apart track as per Section 2(28) of the Act. It was contended that no Government Order has been passed fore-classification of the subject lands from cart tack into any other usage. In the present case, since construction was to be done on the land which is to beear marked as cart track, the order is illegal.
Those two applications were allowed on 27.01.2011 and 31.03.2011 respectively.
In the counter affidavit filed by the District Collector viz., the first Respondent dated 30.06.2010, it was stated that the Petitioner''s land is situated in S. Nos. 64,65,66 at Semmencherry Village, Sholinganallur Taluk in Kancheepuram District. The so called Cart Track Poramboke is found in S. No. 67 which is a Government land. The second Respondent Metro Water by their letter dated02.12.2009 had applied for the alienation of the Government land for setting up Sewerage Pumping Station/Sewerage Treatment Plants along the IT Corridor on the suit land. The land in Survey No. 67 in the Semmencherry Village was found suitable. After observing the formalities, the third Respondent Tahsildar, Sholinganallur Taluk send a proposal dated 14.11.2009 to the first Respondent. The third Respondent while sending the proposal subdivided the land as S. No. 67/1 and 67/2and only 0.04.0 hectares was intended to be alienated to second Respondent and the remaining lands in S. No. 67/1 to the extent of 0.12.0 hectares was left as Cart Track. The State Government had approved the said proposal and issued the impugned GO and still the cart track Poramaboke in S. No. 67/1 is left intact. The Petitioner apprehending that his ingress and egress will be affected had filed the present writ petition. The Cart Track be used by the general public. The Petitioner cannot claim the said land for the Cart Track as a matter of exclusive right and he cannot dictate to the Government its power to alienate its own land. The Petitioner''s right as general public to make use of the Cart Track in S. No. 67/1was not affected and no claim for private use of the land can be made by the Petitioner.
In the impugned GO wile alienating several lands including the one in S. No. 67 described as Vandal Pasha, the Government accepted the request of the Managing Director of Metro Water and held that it is only granted for the purpose of setting up Sewerage Pumping Station/Sewerage Treatment Plants along the I.T. Corridor. The conditions under Revenue Standing Order 24(6) viz., that the land should be used for the purpose for which it was granted lest it should be surrendered to Government.
Since the Petitioner had raised additional grounds and also made the State Government as party 4th respondent, the 4th Respondent was directed to file counter affidavit. Accordingly, they had filed counter affidavit dated 17.06.2011.
In the counter affidavit filed by the 4th respondent, it was stated that the lands were required for construction of water supply head works and Sewerage Treatment Plants for providing extensive water and sewerage system to suburban nodes along the I.T. Corridor. It was identified in coordination with the revenue officials and the lands were found to be vacant and poramboke lands. The land issues related to I.T. Corridor were taken up for discussion and review during the Collector''s conference held on 17.09.2009 and 18.09.2009and it was decided to finalize various pending proposals with in a time frame. The lands that were required for construction of Sewerage Pumping station/Sewerage Treatment Plants have been restricted to minimum requirement and the Government had already sanctioned the project which is under implementation. However, the work on various pumping stations and sewerage treatment plant scold be taken up only after securing the required lands. Therefore, the second Respondent Metro Water requested the District Collector to issue enter upon permission and to alienate the lands on free of cost to the Metro Water. Accordingly, orders were issued by the Government in G.O. Ms. No. 219 Revenue Department, dated 12.05.2010. The writ petition was originally filed on an apprehension that there will be total block of Cart Track for the petitioner''s ingress and egress. Since the left out portion can still be used as cart track for general public for free use, including the Petitioner, the apprehension of the Petitioner is no longer valid. The petitioner cannot claim the Government Poramboke land as a matter of right for his exclusive use. The Tahsildar, Tambaram in his report sent to the District Collector on17.11.2009 had stated that a public advertisement was given regarding the land transfer and no written objections were received from the village people. The village people as well as the Village Administrative Officer had recommended the lands for use in public purpose.
When asked as to how the writ petition is maintainable for canvassing the private interest of the petitioner, the Learned Counsel for the Petitioner placed reliance upon the following judgments:
i) The judgment of the Supreme court in Bangalore Medical Trust Vs. B.S. Muddappa and others, for contending that the residents of the locality are the persons intimately, vitally and adversely affected by any action taken by the State Agency and if the action taken by the State agency deprives them of facilities reserved for the enjoy ment and protection, the residents of the locality are entitled to maintain the writ petition and they have locus stand.
ii) The judgment of the Supreme Court in Ghulam Qadir Vs. Special Tribunal and Others, for contending that the orthodox rule of interpretation regarding the locus stand of a person to reach the court has undergone a sea change with the evelopment of the constitutional law in India. If a person approaching the Court can satisfy that the impugned action is likely to adversely affect his right, the petition filed by that person cannot be rejected.
iii) The decision of the Supreme Court in Mehsana District Central Cooperative Bank Ltd. and Others Vs. State of Gujarat and Others, for contending that if a statute prescribed norms to be followed, it has to be followed only in that fashion and if any violation in statutory rules is brought to the notice of the authorities and if the authorities do not perform the statutory duty, the aggrieved citizen can always bring it to the notice of the High Court.
iv) The judgment of the Supreme Court in Tashi Delek Gaming Solutions Ltd. and Another Vs. State of Karnataka and Others, for contending that if any citizens'' right in any manner to carry on his business is infringed or there is a thre atto his liberty, a petition is maintainable and access to justice is a human right.
v) On the merits of the case, he referred to the decision of this Court in K.V.K. Janardhanan Vs. State of Tamil Nadu and Others, for contending that neither the Government nor the local body has got any right to put up any obstruction over a public street and the owner of the land adjoining the public street has got a right to access at every point where his her land adjoining the public street. In that case, it was held that putting upon iron fence between the land of the Petitioner and that of the suit cart track was illegal. But it must be noted that the said judgment arose out of a suit and in a CRP arising out of an order of the lower Court, these observations were made.
vi) The judgment of this Court in Mecca Jumbo Mosque, rep. By its Assistant Imam, S. Manna Ahmed Maiden v. The Director of Municipalities and Ors. reported in 2001 2 L.W. 817 for contending that the right of the public to pass along the highway, it was held that though Civil Court can decide such issues but when a Municipality was trying to do certain acts for which they are not legally entitled and if they take away the right of a citizen, the writ petition is maintainable.
vii) The judgment of a Division Bench of this Court in Vengaivasal Village Panchayat Vs. The State of Tamilnadu, , where in it was held that the public road within the meaning of Section 2(28) of the Tamil Nadu Pantheist Act, which vests with the Pantheist for maintenance and to deprive the Pantheist of the road, the procedure u/s 125(1) of the Act will have to be followed and the Government cannot ignore the Pantheist before divesting the Pantheist of the right to keep the street as illegal.
viii) An unreported decision of this Court in Leela Thomas v. The Executive Officer, Ullagaram Puzhuthivakkam Municipality (W.P. No. 18327 of 2010) dated07.01.2011, where the Respondents were directed not to put up any construction interfering the Petitioner''s peaceful possession and enjoyment of the house site.
In the present case, as noted already, the respondents had not deprived the Petitioner''s ingress and egress into the plot owned by him. But on the contrary, the State Government, which is sole owner of the Cart Track Poram boke land had alienated a portion of the property that too to a very small miniscule extent of 0.04.0 hectares for setting up a Sewerage Pumping Station. The report of the Basilar clearly indicates that public objections were called for and no members of the public had objected including the Village Administrative Officer. Though u/s 2(28) of the Act extended definition of ''Public Street'' is mentioned under the Tamil Nadu Pantheist Act, in the present case, the classification of Survey No. 67 is only Cart Track Poram boke. The Petitioner who alone had come forward to challenge the same initially on an apprehension that the entire access will be blocked. Butting the present case, the Tahsildar had subdivided the land into S. Nos. 67/1 and 67/2 and had left over the major portion under S. No. 67/1 and it is only under S. No. 67/2,the land had been alienated to the Metro Water. It is not the question of Petitioner lacking any locus stand in challenging the GO but the grounds under which the GO is challenged has been considered in this writ petition. The Petitioner''s right of ingress and egress is not affected in any manner. The land is admittedly a Poramboke land classified as Cart Track and formalities had been observed before alienating the land. The petitioner cannot insist on any further formalities. If at all there was any non-observance of Panchayat resolution, the real aggrieved person will be the Panchayat and not the Petitioner. The Petitioner him self in the beginning admitted that the writ petition was not filed in public interest, the apprehension made by him was not established before this Court.
In the light of the above, this Court is not inclined to entertain the writ petition. Accordingly, the writ petition stands dismissed. However, there will be no order as to costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed. 08.09.2011.