High Court · 2025

W.P.No.7672 of 2025IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRASDATED : 06.03.2025CORAMTHE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.SUNDAR andTHE HONOURABLE MRS.JUSTICE K.GOVINDARAJAN THILAKAVADIW.P.No.7672 of 2025 andW.M.P. No.8614 of 2025 in W.P. No.7672 of 2025P.M.Shanmugam... PetitionerVs.1.The Chief Secretary, State of Tamil Nadu, Secretariat, Chennai – 600 009.2.The District Collector, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 705.3.The Tahsildar, Palacode Taluk, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701.4.The Revenue Inspector, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701.5.The Inspector of Land Records, Office of the Inspector of Land Records, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701.6.The Revenue Divisional Officer, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701. ... Respondents Page Nos.1/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 2025Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of The Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the records relating to Notice dated 29.01.2025 issued under Section 7 of the Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act, 1905 by the Respondent No.4 and to quash the same and to direct the respondents to conduct enquiry providing reasonable opportunity to the petitioner to show cause.For Petitioner : Mr.Ravindran VenkatachalapathyFor Respondents:Mr.T.K.Saravanan,Additional Government PleaderORDER[Order of the Court was made by M.SUNDAR, J.,]Captioned main 'Writ Petition' (hereinafter 'WP' for the sake of brevity) has been filed inter-alia assailing a 'notice dated 29.01.2025' (hereinafter 'impugned notice' for the sake of convenience and clarity) issued by R4 [Revenue Inspector, Dharmapuri District].2. To be noted, the impugned notice has been issued by R4 under Section 7 of 'The Tamil Nadu Land Encroachment Act, 1905 (Tamil Nadu Act III of 1905)' {hereinafter 'said 1905 Act' for the sake of brevity}' and a scanned reproduction of the same is as follows:Page Nos.2/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 20253. Learned counsel for writ petitioner submits that impugned notice was served on the writ petitioner on 12.02.2025. Therefore, the writ petitioner did not get an opportunity to putforth his response. To Page Nos.3/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 2025be further noted, the impugned notice says that cause should be shown on or before 12.02.2025.4. Issue notice to respondents.5. Mr.T.K.Saravanan, learned Additional Government Pleader accepts notice for all six respondents and submits on instructions that there will be a roll back of impugned notice. In other words, the impugned notice is being withdrawn is learned State counsel's say. This submission is recorded and in the light of this submission is being made on instructions, impugned notice now stands effaced.6. Under normal circumstances, the above would have been the end of the matter but learned State counsel submits that prior to the impugned notice, a 'notice dated 20.06.2024 under Section 7 of said 1905 Act' was issued by R4 and the same was served on the writ petitioner on 03.07.2024 (hereinafter 'earlier Section 7 notice' for the sake of convenience and clarity). It is submitted by learned State counsel that writ petitioner did not respond to the earlier Section 7 notice and therefore, an order under Section 6 of said 1905 Act being Page Nos.4/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 2025an order signed on 30.07.2024 was made by R3 [Tahsildar, Palacode Taluk, Dharmapuri District]. Scanned reproduction of earlier Section 7 notice and Section 6 order as placed before us are as follows:Page Nos.5/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 2025Page Nos.6/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 20257. In the first call, learned counsel for writ petitioner sought pass over to get instructions on whether earlier Section 7 notice and Section 6 order have been served on the writ petitioner. In the second call, after getting instructions from the writ petitioner, learned counsel submitted that earlier Section 7 notice has infact been served on the writ petitioner on 03.07.2024 but Section 6 order dated 30.07.2024 was not served on the writ petitioner is learned writ petitioner counsel's say.8. Learned State counsel wants to proceed on the basis of earlier Section 7 notice and aforereferred Section 6 order pursuant to earlier Section 7 notice. On the contrary, learned counsel for writ petitioner submits that he would withdraw the captioned main WP and liberty may be preserved for him for filing appeal against the earlier Section 6 order i.e., statutory appeal under Section 10 of said 1905 Act (to be noted, R2 [District Collector, Dharmapuri District] is the appellate authority). Saying so, learned counsel has made an endorsement in the case file and a scanned reproduction of the same is as follows:Page Nos.7/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 20259. Though the writ petition is being withdrawn, owing to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, while permitting the learned counsel for writ petitioner to withdraw and preserving the rights of the writ petitioner, the following order is made:9.1 Impugned notice dated 29.01.2025 stands effaced/withdrawn by R4;Page Nos.8/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 20259.2 For the present, it shall be construed that Section 6 order was served on the writ petitioner today (06.03.2025) and writ petitioner can prefer a statutory appeal under Section 10 of said 1905 Act within 30 days from today;9.3 In the appeal, the question as to whether Section 6 order was served earlier on the writ petitioner can be raised and it shall be considered on the basis of records. Rights and contentions of both sides are left open in this regard;9.4 Likewise, rights and contentions of both sides are left open for filing an appeal i.e., statutory appeal under Section 10 of said 1905 Act as against the aforementioned Section 6 order;9.5 If an appeal is filed, R2 shall consider the same on its own merits and in accordance with law untrammeled by this withdrawal order.Page Nos.9/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 202510. Captioned main WP is disposed of in the aforesaid manner. consequently captioned Writ Miscellaneous Petition (WMP) thereat is disposed of as closed. There shall be no order as to costs. (M.S.,J.) (K.G.T.,J.) 06.03.2025Index : Yes / NoNeutral Citation : Yes / NommiTo1.The Chief Secretary, State of Tamil Nadu, Secretariat, Chennai – 600 009.2.The District Collector, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 705.3.The Tahsildar, Palacode Taluk, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701.4.The Revenue Inspector, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701.5.The Inspector of Land Records, Office of the Inspector of Land Records, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701.6.The Revenue Divisional Officer, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu – 636 701. Page Nos.10/11 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.7672 of 2025M.SUNDAR, J.,andK.GOVINDARAJAN THILAKAVADI, J.,mmi W.P.No.7672 of 2025 06.03.2025Page Nos.11/11