CHENNAI : Turning down an appeal filed by Theosophical Society challenging an order of a single judge, a division bench of the Madras High Court directed the society to approach the District Revenue Officer (DRO) with all the documents on the rights over the land under its possession.
The first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy on Thursday passed the orders disposing the writ appeal filed by K Jaikumar, general manager of the society.
The single judge has set aside the order of the DRO against the appellant and has remitted the matter back to him to give opportunity to the society to produce documents, based on which, the DRO has to take a decision on merits within two months, the bench noted.
Naturally, the DRO would be required to consider the stand of the society including the contention that the DRO is not empowered to decide on the title (rights) of the land, it added.
The appeal was filed against the single judge refusal to adjudicate on the powers of the DRO to decide on land ownership rights but directed the society to appear for an enquiry with land documents.
The DRO sent the communication for enquiry saying that the society failed to produce documents to the tahsildar, who was directed to hold a verification of the documents and recover government land, if any, from the society. The order came in the wake of a private person- Faiza Ahmed-laying claims on portions of the land.