AI Structured Summary
Not yet generated for this judgment
Judgment
(Order of the Court was made by C.V.KARTHIKEYAN, J.)
The writ petition has been filed in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation seeking to quash the notification issued by the 4th respondent/Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department/WRO, Melvaipparu Vadinila Pirivu, Sivagiri, Tirunelveli District, dated 02.01.2019 so far as Kadambankulam, Karunkulam, Muthurkulam and Keezhapannadhikulam are concerned.
Even while the present writ petition had been pending from the year 2019 onwards, W.P(MD)No.1931 of 2005 had been filed by the Chairman of Rayagiri Special Village Panchayat and additionally, WP(MD)No.1456 of 2006 had been filed by one private individual seeking allocation of the jurisdictional limits of Rayagiri Town Panchayat and Ullar Thalavaipuram Panchayat by fixing the boundaries. All the issues had been come up for consideration before a Division Bench of this Court and by order dated 12.02.2024, it had been held as follows:
''2. When both the writ petition filed by A.Natchadalingam and the writ appeal by Rayagiri Special Village Panchayat came up for consideration, a subsequent development was brought to the notice of this Bench namely, the Government has thought fit that the maintenance of water body must be divested from the local body and to be vested with the Public Works Department. The revenue derived must be shared equally between the Public Works Department and the Ayacutdars identified under the Irrigation Management Act. In the light of the said G.O., this Court finds that nothing survives in the writ petition as well as writ appeal. More particularly, in the writ petition, the administrative discretion on delimiting the boundaries of two village panchayats has been questioned and it being a policy decision of the State, there cannot be any judicial intervention by issuing a Mandamus. On that score also, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed besides non representation.
3.As far as the writ appeal is concerned, as stated above, in view of the subsequent event in passing of the G.O., divesting the rights of the local panchayat over the water body, nothing survives and hence the writ appeal has become infructuous.
4.Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that pursuant to the interim order passed by this Court, the revenue derived so far from the water body is kept in a deposit and requests the Court to issue proper direction to distribute the fund as per The Tamil Nadu Farmer's Management of Irrigation Systems Act, 2000. The District Collector, Tirunelveli District, shall take note of the request and pass appropriate order in accordance with law.
5.In the result, the Writ Petition is dismissed and Writ Appeal is dismissed as infructuous. No costs. Connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.''
In the present writ petition, the same issue had been raised as a Public Interest Litigation. The common order in the writ appeal and the writ petition extracted aforementioned directly applies to the issues raised in the present writ petition. The issues raised have now become redundant of being adjudicated.
The Writ Petition stands disposed of in accordance with the aforementioned order extracted above. No costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.