CHENNAI: The first bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Vellore District Collector to treat a PIL petition from the members of the Kurivikarar (Narikuravar) tribe as a representation and consider grant of pattas for their houses sites.
The bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice R Hemalatha gave the direction on December 4, while disposing of a PIL petition from N Raja praying for a direction to the Collector to grant patta for the house sites of the petitioner and his community members in Katpadi taluk.
The Collector shall consider devising a scheme for grant of patta lands to the members of the tribe. A decision shall be taken at the earliest, preferably within three months, the bench added.
According to the petitioner, his community people, constituting about 0.1 per cent of the Tamil Nadu population, have no place to reside and so they are pavement-dwellers. Being illiterate and living in poverty, they are prone to diseases and discriminated.
To bring them to the mainstream of the society, it is imperative that they should be provided with basic amenities of decent living and in particular, patta lands on which they can construct their houses, the petitioner said.