MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has directed the Virudhunagar district administration officials to take action against people who have encroached a water body in Virudhunagar town and restore it.
A division bench of justices GR Swaminathan and B Pugalendhi gave the ruling while hearing a petition filed by B Sundaramurthi, seeking a direction to officials to remove encroachments on 1,000 sq m land in Virudhunagar municipal town and classified as water bodies in revenue records. The petitioner also sought action against the encroachers. OMS Velmurugan and V Muthaiah Pandian, who is a power agent of Velmurugan, were among the respondents.
While Velmurugan did not appear in person or through counsel, Pandian’s counsel said the patta land was in the name of Velmurugan. When asked to produce the original patta, the counsel for Pandian claimed it was probably with Velmurugan. Officials, on the other hand, affirmed that it was a water body and that the patta in the name of Velmurugan was forged. The government counsel stated that a suitable police complaint would be lodged by the tahsildar since the document is forged. After hearing the arguments, the judges directed the authorities to remove any encroachments on said water body and
restore it to the original condition. Further, the judges restrained registration department from entertaining any documents pertaining to the said survey number. Police were directed to register an FIR based on the complaint of the Tahsildar and take action against the persons involved in creating a false revenue record.